Yonezawa Wagyu

Yonezawa beef comes from the Okitama region in the south of Yamagata Prefecture, in the cold, snowy interior of northern Honshu. It is one of Japan's most celebrated regional Wagyu brands and is often named among the country's "three great" Wagyu, alongside Kobe and Matsusaka, though that list is informal and the third place is contested between Yonezawa and Omi.

The brand is reserved for female Japanese Black cattle raised in the designated Okitama area, certified by the Yonezawa Beef Brand Promotion Council, and finished slowly, on average past 33 months. The region's harsh winters and wide day-to-night temperature swings are part of the story producers tell about its dense, fine marbling.

Yonezawa's fame is often traced to the Meiji era and an English teacher named Charles Henry Dallas, who is said to have been so taken with the local beef that he brought a cow back to Yokohama at the end of his posting, helping spread its reputation beyond the region.

Today Yonezawa is known for delicate, even marbling and a sweet, clean fat. Like the other historic brands, it is best ordered by name together with the Yamagata origin and a Japanese grade.