Introduction
The following subsections describe the origins of the major prefectural strains in the Japanese Black breed, including the modern Itozakura strain. The Hiroshima strain description is still ‘work in progress’. An interesting feature of the available Japanese literature is that specific phenotypes and unique performance attributes for individual prefectures do not seem to have been compiled in a table form (or at one that is widely available for translation).
Descriptors are general: Hyogo = marbling and meat quality; Shimane and Tottori = growth. And although Hiroshima Japanese Blacks are identified in the science as representing significantly differentiated genetics within the breed, what this means in practical breeding terms is unclear.