A special feature of these indigenous cattle is, that they have hardly been crossbred during their long history. For centuries, they have been used mainly as working animals. According to the law of Buddhism, meat consumption was forbidden in Japan. After the opening of Japan in 1868, the meat yield of this breed was optimised for their use as beef cattle. Today, there are three main Japanese breeds known as Wagyū: Japanese Black (Kuroge Wagyū), Japanese Shorthorn (Tankaku Wagyū) and Japanese Brown (Akage Wagyū). Japanese Black make up 90% of all fattened cattle in Japan. Wagyū cattle is mostly black, but there are also red cattle. They are mid-sized (bulls: 800–1000kg, cows: 450–600kg) with a well-developed shoulder and strong, clearly tilted hind quarters. At slaughtering, the Wagyū is almost double the age of conventional cattle.