Kobe beef

Japan spent twelve centuries barely eating beef. A Buddhist-influenced prohibition, formalised in the seventh century and reinforced repeatedly, meant cattle were draught animals rather than food. When the ban lifted in the Meiji era, one region already had the animal that mattered.

The Tajima strain of Japanese Black cattle had been raised in the mountains of northern Hyogo for centuries — small, hardy, isolated by geography, and genetically inclined to deposit fat inside the muscle rather than around it. That intramuscular marbling is the entire point.

The rules, which are strict and public

To be sold as Kobe beef, an animal must be:

· Pure Tajima-strain Japanese Black, born in Hyogo Prefecture. · Raised in Hyogo, on a designated farm, its whole life. · A bullock or a virgin cow. · Slaughtered in Hyogo. · Graded at A4 or A5, with a marbling score of 6 or higher on a 12-point scale, and a carcass weight below a set ceiling.

About 6,800 animals qualify each year, worldwide, in total. Every certified carcass has a ten-digit identification number you can look up.

That number is the check. A restaurant serving genuine Kobe beef will display its certificate and the number; ask, and nobody will be offended. Overseas, the vast majority of "Kobe beef" is either domestic wagyu-cross or simply marketing — Japan permitted almost no beef export at all until 2012.

The massage and the beer

You will have heard that the cattle are massaged and given beer. This is not entirely invented, and it is not the reason for the quality. Some farmers do brush or massage animals, particularly in cold months or when appetite drops; a few have given beer for the same reason. These are small-herd husbandry practices from farmers who keep a handful of animals, not a industry-wide ritual.

The quality comes from genetics, from a long slow feeding period — often around 30 months, far beyond commercial norms — and from low-stress raising in small herds. The mythology is more fun and less true.

How to eat it without wasting it

Order teppanyaki — cooked on a steel griddle in front of you — and let them serve it medium-rare at most. The fat melts near body temperature, which is why a slice feels like it dissolves; cook it further and you have rendered out the thing you paid for.

Lunch is the move. The same beef, the same chefs, at roughly a third of dinner prices — a Kobe beef lunch set runs from around ¥5,000–8,000 where dinner starts at ¥15,000. On a port day that is not a compromise; it is simply when this city eats it.

And portion honesty: 100 to 150 grams is a serving. This is not a steak you eat 300 grams of, and restaurants will gently tell you so.