Prefecture · Kagawa
Sanuki Wagyu
Kagawa Prefecture's Japanese Black, graded gold (4-5) or silver (3), and the parent brand from which Olive Wagyu is drawn.
- Region
- Kagawa (Sanuki), Shikoku
- Breed
- Japanese Black of documented pedigree
- Gold Label
- Meat quality grade 4 or 5
- Silver Label
- Meat quality grade 3
Where to eat it2
Where to buy it1
Kagawa's prefectural brand
Sanuki is the old provincial name for Kagawa, the smallest prefecture in Japan, on the Seto Inland Sea side of Shikoku. Sanuki Wagyu is its Japanese Black brand, restricted to cattle of documented pedigree raised in the prefecture whose carcasses meet an A or B yield grade.
The brand is graded in two tiers rather than published as a single quality bar. A carcass at meat quality grade 4 or 5 carries the Gold Label; grade 3 carries the Silver Label. Anything below that is not sold as Sanuki Wagyu. The Sanuki Wagyu and Olive Wagyu Promotion Association administers both labels.
Its relationship to Olive Wagyu
Sanuki and Olive Wagyu are not interchangeable names. Sanuki Wagyu is the parent brand for qualifying Kagawa Japanese Black cattle. Olive Wagyu is a program within it in which qualifying cattle receive processed spent olive pulp. The association certifies Gold labels for quality grades 4 and 5 and Silver for grade 3, so every certified Olive Wagyu animal is Sanuki Wagyu while the reverse is not true.
Sanuki Wagyu is the broader prefectural brand, while Olive Wagyu is a smaller program within it and is covered separately on our Olive Wagyu page. Current animal counts and availability require dated association or seller evidence.
How to order it with confidence
Look for the Sanuki or Kagawa name with a stated grade, or with the Gold or Silver Label, since the label is the brand's own shorthand for that grade. A menu that says Sanuki is telling you the prefecture; it is not by itself telling you the beef is olive-fed. If olive finishing is what you want, the menu should say Olive Wagyu.
Common questions
- Is Sanuki Wagyu the same as Olive Wagyu?
- No. Sanuki Wagyu is Kagawa Prefecture's general Japanese Black brand. Olive Wagyu is a small program within it, in which qualifying Sanuki cattle are finished on spent olive pulp. All Olive Wagyu is Sanuki Wagyu, but most Sanuki Wagyu is not olive-fed.
- What do the Gold and Silver Labels mean?
- They are the Sanuki brand's two quality tiers, awarded on the Japan Meat Grading Association scale. Gold Label is meat quality grade 4 or 5; Silver Label is grade 3. Both require an A or B yield grade.
- Where does the name Sanuki come from?
- Sanuki is the historical province that corresponds to present-day Kagawa Prefecture on Shikoku, so Sanuki Wagyu and Kagawa Wagyu describe the same origin.
Looking for the U.S. ranches that raise Wagyu? See the farms · The Kobe list · How to spot authentic Wagyu