Kenhanafuji (FB2461) — The International Bull of Mystery

THE High-Selling Wagyu Bull of ALL TIME.

Kenhanafuji was one of the most promising young bulls Japan had ever produced when he was snatched away by US investors in the early 1990s and exported to America. "Right away when we saw that bull in Japan we knew he was the one we had to get!" — Bruce Hemmingsen, Ultimate Kobe Beef.

We have been unable to locate any existing photograph of Kenhanafuji — a curious oddity fitting for the "International Bull of Mystery." (The reference video is of a full-blood black Kenhanafuji son in Brazil, verified to carry no red/Akaushi or commercial blood — a jet-black full-blood.)

The bull

Kenhanafuji was born December 16, 1993 in Japan. He was named for his tremendous, dynastic, Kedaka-sired dam "Hanafuji," his former #1-in-Japan marbling sire Itohana, and his 100% pure Kedaka Hongen maternal sire "Kensei." He is the only calf out of the great Hanafuji cow ever registered outside Japan, making him a potent outcross to all international herds — especially high-Tajima herds.

His sire Itohana was at one time the highest-rated marbling sire in all of Japan — an astounding feat, because Itohana was ZERO Tajima (a pure Fujiyoshi). He led Japan in marbling two years in a row, beating out all the fabled Yasutani Doi and Nami-line Tajimas of Hyogo. Kenhanafuji has a pedigree very similar to the legendary two-time All-Japan Zenkyo Grand Champion Kitaguni 7/8 in three ways: Dai 7 Itozakura on top; a Harumi-line Kedaka cow on the bottom (Kedaka → Dai 2 Kedaka → Harumi → Kensei); and 100% Kedaka × Shimane with zero Tajima. One could think of him as "Kitaguni 2.0."

The $150,000 mystery

In the early 1990s two world-class cattlemen — Yukio Kurosawatsu and Bruce Hemmingsen — were sent to Japan and tasked by an investment group to pick two elite Wagyu bulls. Of the thousands they scrutinized, Kenhanafuji was the easy #1 draft pick. Many breeders in Japan did not want him to leave, but Yukio and Bruce "got it done," and Kenhanafuji and Takazakura made it across the Pacific in one piece.

So why aren't there hundreds of registered full-blood Kenhanafuji progeny like there are of Takazakura? Why does the AWA herdbook show only one registered animal sired by him born in a fifteen-year stretch? The answer traces to a Japanese Wagyu breeder, Mr. Eiji Funatsuki — a Tokyo high-rise real estate developer, "the Donald Trump of Tokyo," who owned a world-class operation in Hyogo, where Kobe beef comes from. Funatsuki followed the bull all the way to America and paid $150,000 cash for him on the spot. Some say he simply wanted a zero-Tajima bull that marbled as well as any Tajima but produced carcasses 20–30% larger on months less feed. Others say he made a tactical move to keep those genetics from Western commercial producers. Either way, after buying him he largely sat on him — and Kenhanafuji became the rarest of all foundation bulls (rarer than Mazda, Mt Fuji, 005, Judo or Rueshaw).

What a breeder said

"Kenhanafuji was an original import that came in the second shipment WKS did in 1994. He is sired by Itohana (one of the very few Fujiyoshi sires used for F1 breeding due to his marbling ability), who had at one time ranked the highest for marbling of all sires in Japan — a rare feat for a Fujiyoshi. The breeding of Itohana to Hanafuji was complementary — size, stature and maternal ability from the maternal line, stabilizing meat quality from Itohana. Kenhanafuji breeds as you'd expect from the pedigree — strong, long-bodied animals with extreme width, good milkers, high fertility, great temperament, easy-keeping. Calves are jet black." — Ken Kurosawatsu, Wagyu Sekai Inc.

Why he matters now

The top 10 bulls in Japan in recent years averaged more than 50% Kedaka, ~30% Shimane and less than 20% Tajima — almost the reverse of most North American and Australian herds. As one of the very few zero-Tajima bulls ever to leave Japan, Kenhanafuji (along with the original import Shigefuku J1822) is one of the most powerful "Tajima diluters" available to breeders outside Japan — a way to move '90s-bred high-Tajima cows toward the higher-Kedaka/Shimane combinations that dominate Japan's domestic industry today.

One of his few surviving full-blood daughters, the great foundation cow Kobe Mizutani 607E (FB3214), anchors much of WagyuRanch's own donor program.

Hawkeye Breeders broke a straw and examined it under a microscope: uber-high flush-quality semen with 50 million+ cell count per straw, collected in the mid-90s when the bull was young — enough to split between two or three donors and still deliver more than most of today's whole straws.

Pedigree

{
  "sire": {
    "name": "Itohana", "reg": "FB504",
    "sire": { "name": "Dai 7 Itozakura", "reg": "FB226", "sire": { "name": "Dai 14 Shigeru 8994", "reg": "FB347" }, "dam": { "name": "Dai 9 Itozakura", "reg": "FB395" } },
    "dam": { "name": "Yoshifukuhana", "reg": "FB561", "sire": { "name": "Dai 7 Itozakura", "reg": "FB226" }, "dam": { "name": "Dai 4 Fukuhana", "reg": "FB469" } }
  },
  "dam": {
    "name": "Hana Fuji 472029", "reg": "FB563",
    "sire": { "name": "Kensei 108", "reg": "FB209", "sire": { "name": "Harumi 9878", "reg": "FB565" }, "dam": { "name": "Japanese Cow", "reg": "NR251" } },
    "dam": { "name": "Hanayuu 158303", "reg": "FB564", "sire": { "name": "Itochiyo 309", "reg": "FB566" }, "dam": { "name": "Japanese Cow", "reg": "NR251" } }
  }
}

Pricing

Original import bull semen — LIMITED QUANTITY, by private treaty. Viability and parentage guaranteed. Carrier Free.

Call or text 801-259-9358 for current market pricing (per 2019 catalog).

Kenhanafuji