Rueshaw

Rueshaw is the most storied of America's Akaushi founders, the 1975 Japanese Red National Champion and, by repute, the only national-champion Wagyu ever permitted to leave Japan. Born 2 February 1973 in Kumamoto Prefecture, the ancestral home of the Akaushi breed, he was one of the two red bulls in Morris Whitney's four-bull 1976 importation, the first Wagyu shipment from Japan to the United States, and he holds the distinction of being the very first Wagyu registered with the American Wagyu Association. With no fullblood females present, Rueshaw was initially bred to domestic cows while Colorado State collected his semen; the bulls later passed to Wagyu Breeders Inc. His influence on the American Akaushi population is profound and still commercially electric: a line-bred descendant, JC Rueshaw 75, recorded the largest ribeye and highest marbling scan in Houston Livestock Show history in 2014, and in 2022 that bull with his semen inventory sold for a Wagyu world-record $500,000. Sired by Ruemei H39 out of FB2 Kikutama 1285, Rueshaw combined championship phenotype with elite marbling, and his scarce semen still commands premium prices as breeders chase authentic foundation Akaushi genetics.