Protected local food
Tokusan Matsusaka Beef
特産松阪牛
Tokusan Matsusaka Beef is the top tier of Matsusaka beef from Mie. Heifers are fattened for more than 900 days, which gives very fine marbling and soft fat.
Key facts
- Registered as a protected name
- 3 March 2017
- Region
- Kansai
- Official name in Japanese
- 特産松阪牛
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 平成16年11月1日当時の行政区画名としての22市町村（松阪市、津市、伊勢市、久居市、香良洲町、一志町、白山町、嬉野町、美杉村、三雲町、飯南町、飯高町、多気町、明和町、大台町、勢和村、宮川村、玉城町、小俣町、大宮町、御薗村、度会町）
900 days
Black Wagyu heifers that have never calved are brought in from Hyogo before they are 12 months old, then fattened for more than 900 days around Matsusaka in Mie. The fat is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, so it melts at a low temperature, and the marbling is very fine.
Travellers and traders have passed through the area since early times, and its farmers were among the first to focus on long fattening for better meat. They have handed the method down ever since.
Good to know
Questions travellers ask
What does Tokusan mean?
Special local product. Tokusan Matsusaka Beef is the long-fattened tier: heifers from Hyogo raised for more than 900 days.
Where does it come from?
22 former towns and cities around Matsusaka in Mie Prefecture, including Matsusaka, Tsu and Ise.
Where it comes from
Crafts from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
- Hida no Takumi: 1,300 years of master woodworkers in Takayama
- Iga and Koka: in search of the real ninja
- Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage: Japan's 1,300-year journey of the heart
- Saiku: the palace of the princess who prayed for Japan
- The Six Ancient Kilns: pottery born and raised in Japan
- Toba and Shima: meet the ama, Japan's women free divers
- Ueda's Shioda-daira: the ley line of sun and earth
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.