Suzutani

Suzutani is widely called the most famous and genetically influential Wagyu cow ever to leave Japan. A 100% Tajima female born December 28, 1991, she was sired by Tanishige (FB211) and out of Suzunami (FB227), a daughter of the legendary Tajima sire Shigeshigenami. In 1993 the Mannett Group (which became World K's) imported her alongside Rikitani and Okutani plus the bulls Michifuku and Haruki II — the shipment that founded fullblood Wagyu in North America. Unlike her less fertile shipmate Rikitani, Suzutani proved an exceptionally prolific flush cow. She produced Shigeshigetani and Sanjirou, arguably the two most consequential second-generation sires bred outside Japan, and the Shigeshigetani line traces directly to her. Additional offspring extended her reach into Canada. Because so many elite modern fullbloods carry her blood, she remains a benchmark maternal name in Wagyu pedigrees and a symbol of concentrated Tajima marbling genetics.