Japanese Polled

The Japanese Polled (Japanese: 無角和種, Mukaku Washu) is a critically-endangered breed of small Japanese beef cattle. It is one of six native Japanese cattle breeds,^[2] and one of the four Japanese breeds known as wagyu, the others being the Japanese Black, the Japanese Brown and the Japanese Shorthorn.^[3]: 420 All wagyu cattle derive from

Japan was effectively isolated from the rest of the world from 1635 until 1854; there was no possibility of intromission of foreign genes to the cattle population during this time. Between 1868, the year of the Meiji Restoration, and 1887, some 2600 foreign cattle were imported. At first there was little interest in cross-breeding these with native stock, but from about 1900 it became widespread. It ceased abruptly in 1910, when it was realised that, while the cross-breeds might be larger and have better dairy qualities, their working capacity and meat quality was lower. From 1919, the various heterogeneous regional populations that resulted from this brief period of cross-breeding were registered and selected as "Improved Japanese Cattle". Four separate strains were characterised, based mainly on which type of foreign cattle had most influenced the hybrids, and were recognised as breeds in 1944. These were the four wagyu breeds, the Japanese Polled, the Japanese Black, the Japanese Brown and the Japanese Shorthorn.^[4]: 8

The Japanese Polled developed in south-western

The Japanese Polled is black; both sexes are polled, without horns.^[1]

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