Protected local food
Choshu Kuro Kashiwa
長州黒かしわ
Yamaguchi's first jidori, a heritage-breed chicken, bred from the rare black Kurokashiwa. It is tender with a firm bite and is the pride of Nagato, a town known for yakitori.
Key facts
- Registered as a protected name
- 27 March 2024
- Region
- Chugoku
- Official name in Japanese
- 長州黒かしわ
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 山口県長門市、美祢市
From a rare black chicken
Kashiwa is the old western Japanese word for chicken. Choshu kuro kashiwa was developed over 13 years by Yamaguchi Prefecture from the Kurokashiwa, a black native breed protected as a natural monument. It is the prefecture's first jidori, a chicken of native-breed lineage raised to set standards.
Tender with a bite
The meat is tender yet keeps a pleasant chew, and it is rich in inosinic acid, the compound behind its savoury depth.
The yakitori town
Nagato and Mine, on the Sea of Japan side, have long had thriving fisheries, which made fish-based feed cheap, so chicken farming flourished and chicken became part of home cooking. Nagato now calls itself the yakitori town, and kuro kashiwa is its signature.
Good to know
- Motonosumi Shrine in Nagato, with its tunnel of 123 red torii gates down to the sea, is one of Japan's most photographed spots.
- Mine has Akiyoshidai, Japan's largest karst plateau, and the huge Akiyoshido cave.
Questions travellers ask
What is jidori?
A Japanese standard for chicken with native-breed lineage, raised longer and with more space than ordinary broilers.
Where can I eat it?
In yakitori restaurants in Nagato, and at hotels and restaurants across Yamaguchi.
Where it comes from
More protected foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.