Japan's regional beef, jidori chicken and pork brands — what each one legally is, with sources

Every regional beef brand in Japan has rules about what may carry its name: the breed, where the animal was raised, its age, and its grade. Those rules are written down by brand associations, prefectures, and in the Geographical Indication (GI) register of Japan's Ministry of Agriculture — almost always only in Japanese.

Niku Meikan reads those primary sources and sets out one brand per page, with a citation for every requirement. It covers 100 beef brands, 26 jidori chicken brands (seven of them registered as Geographical Indications) and 38 pork brands.

Ways to look up a brand

Geographical Indication (GI)

Jidori and branded chicken

Pork brands

By prefecture

Number of brands listed per prefecture (schematic tile map; positions are approximate)

Hokkaido7 brands
Aomori3 brands
Iwate3 brands
Miyagi2 brands
Akita6 brands
Yamagata4 brands
Fukushima3 brands
Ibaraki4 brands
Tochigi5 brands
Gunma4 brands
Saitama2 brands
Chiba1 brand
Tokyo2 brands
Kanagawa3 brands
Yamanashi2 brands
Niigata3 brands
Toyama2 brands
Ishikawa2 brands
Fukui2 brands
Nagano4 brands
Gifu4 brands
Shizuoka2 brands
Aichi9 brands
Mie4 brands
Shiga1 brand
Kyoto6 brands
Hyogo7 brands
Nara1 brand
Wakayama2 brands
Tottori5 brands
Shimane3 brands
Okayama5 brands
Hiroshima3 brands
Yamaguchi2 brands
Tokushima3 brands
Kagawa3 brands
Ehime4 brands
Kochi4 brands
Fukuoka3 brands
Saga3 brands
Nagasaki2 brands
Kumamoto5 brands
Oita5 brands
Miyazaki6 brands
Kagoshima5 brands
Okinawa3 brands

By prefecture → ・ All beef brands → ・ All jidori and branded chicken → ・ All pork brands → ・ How Japanese beef is graded → ・ Guides →