‍ ‍ History

Mishima is a small Island (7.8 km2) located in the Japan Sea, 45 kilometers from the main island of Japan. It is characterized by its restricted flat area; therefore, rice fields are small and terraced. The first official record indicated that 350 Mishima cattle died due to a Rinderpest outbreak in 1962 (Minezawa, 2003). The herd was re-built and by 1739 they were 433 officially recorded and approximately 400 head had been kept up to the Meiji Restoration in 1898.

Mishima Island cattle are the oldest breed of native Japanese cattle and were declared a “national natural treasure” in 1928 (Yoshitaka, et al., 2008). Thus, they are considered as the original type of Japanese Black cattle. Mishima cattle have been kept as farm animals and for in situ conservation. However, total numbers have been declining and there were 300 Mishima females kept up to 1961. Total numbers further decreased after that and only 33 females remained in the middle of the 1970’s (Furukawa et al., 1997). The number of females increased to nearly 100 in 2002 (Minezawa, 2003).

Mishima cattle are characterized by their small skeletal frame, small horns, black coat color and narrowed body type in comparison to the modern Japanese Black. The average for wither height, chest girth and body weight of a mature Mishima female (60 months old) are 112.8 cm, 152.1 cm, and 261.1 kg, respectively (Harada, et al., 1996). Mishima steers were evaluated by Morita et al, 2000 and reported an average weight of 517 ± 20 kg (n=4) of body weight at 35.8 ± 0.5 months of age. Mishima steers generally weigh less compared with fattened Japanese Black steers at 26 months of age (Gotoh et al., 2009; Al-Brecht et al., 2011).