[3]: 51 Cattle were brought to Japan from China at the same time as the cultivation of rice, in about the second century AD, in the Yayoi period.

[4]: 209  Until about the time of the Meiji Restoration in 1868, they were used only as draught animals, in agriculture, forestry, mining and for transport, and as a source of fertiliser.

Milk consumption was unknown, and – for cultural and religious reasons – meat was not eaten.

[5]: 2 Japan was effectively isolated from the rest of the world from 1635 until 1854; there was no possibility of intromission of foreign genes to the cattle population during this time.

Among the various heterogeneous regional populations that resulted from this brief period of cross-breeding, four separate strains were characterised, and were recognised as breeds in 1944.