Hyogo North · TajimaNo.987★★★Open in map →

Kobe Beef

foodThe classic — done right

Kobe beef is not a breed. It is Tajima cattle raised in Hyogo whose carcass clears a written standard. The prefecture keeps a museum about those cattle in the highland where they are bred.

FromOsaka Station
About half a dayExpress train, bus, then taxi
Get off atTando bus stop (community loop bus)
From there
Kobe Beef

Directions ↗

Where it is

30 more notes in Hyogo · open the map →

What to look for — in walking order

Tajima Beef MuseumKishujiRapid / CC BY-SA 4.0

Tajima Beef Museumthe prefecture's own exhibition on the cattle line behind the Kobe name
Kobe beef boothhands-on displays on how the grade is defined and how the brand is policed
Visitor housethe park information point, with a workshop room for soba, sausage and beef tataki
PastureTajima cattle on the grass, with sheep and goats in the petting yard beside them
Panorama deck and flower gardenthe highest ground in the park, reached by the last climb of the walk

How to actually get there

Osaka Station to Hamasaka Station on the JR Limited Express Hamakaze; departures are few, so check the timetable first.
Hamasaka Station to Yumura Onsen by bus.
Yumura Onsen to the park by taxi, or by the community loop bus as far as Tando.
Tando to the park entrance on foot, uphill all the way, then start at the Tajima Beef Museum.

JR Limited Express Hamakaze, then bus and taxi: From Osaka Station take the JR Limited Express Hamakaze to Hamasaka Station. It runs only a few times a day, so check the timetable and reserve a seat before you set out. At Hamasaka change to the bus for Yumura Onsen. From Yumura Onsen the last stretch is by taxi, or by the community loop bus as far as Tando.
The same way back, on a thin timetable: Return to Yumura Onsen, then by bus to Hamasaka Station and by Hamakaze to Osaka. Departures are few and the last usable train leaves well before evening, so fix your return before you decide how long to stay. Highway buses also run direct between Yumura Onsen and Osaka or Kobe, and are often the easier way home.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Tajima Bokujo Park sits on a ridge in Shin'onsen, at the far northern edge of Hyogo, on high ground the prefecture keeps as grazing land. Inside it stands the Tajima Beef Museum, which Hyogo runs to explain one thing: what stands between a Tajima cow and the beef allowed to call itself Kobe. The standard is written down. A carcass must grade A or B for yield, reach a marbling score of No.6 or above, and weigh no more than 499.9 kilograms. Cattle that miss it are still Tajima beef; they simply lose the name. The same cattle graze in the pasture outside, so the animal and the rulebook sit a few minutes apart.

How to enjoy it

The park runs from 9:00 to 17:00, and given how far it is, confirm the day is open before you commit to the journey. Take the museum first, then walk out to the pasture and finish on the deck. Allow more time than the distances suggest, because the ground rises the whole way.

Background & history

Kobe opened as an international port in 1868, and the account handed down is that an Englishman living there was the first to eat the local Tajima cattle. Around 1897 the villages of the Mikata district began keeping cattle registers, an early form of pedigree record, and shut the line to outside blood. The effect of that closed herd is still visible: 99.9 per cent of Japan's black wagyu breeding cows descend from a single Tajima bull. In 2023 the district's way of raising cattle was named a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System.

Before you go

Cash: Entry and parking were free when checked. Carry cash for the workshop sessions and for food inside the park.
Good to know: The park closes on Thursdays; when a public holiday lands on a Thursday, it closes the Friday instead. This is snow country, and the slope becomes a ski hill in winter, so a winter visit means checking the road as well as the calendar.
Another way: By car the turn is off National Route 9 near Yumura Onsen; the nearest interchange is Yoka Hyonosen on the Kita-Kinki Toyooka Expressway. A rental car from Tottori Airport is another way in.
After you get off: From Tando the town road climbs about one kilometre to the park entrance, roughly a fifteen-minute walk, uphill the whole way.