Kikuhana

Kikuhana (TF37, FB2127) is a Fullblood Black Shimane sire from the Kiku (Kikumon) family, exported by Shogo Takeda among his first five black bulls beginning in 1994 and arriving in the U.S. in 1995. He was sired by the famous Itohana, a bull linebred to Dai 7 Itozakura, anchoring Kikuhana firmly in the Itozakura/Fujiyoshi foundation that Takeda drew from Shimane's Nougi and Nita districts. Breeders value him for producing larger, faster-growing calves with excellent phenotype and for throwing daughters with strong maternal and milking traits, making him a useful blend of growth and cow-family quality. His genetics were later used, for example, over Itomichi-sired foundation heifers in early Australian herds such as those assembled by Sumo Wagyu. He is a moderately prolific Takeda sire, with roughly 538 registrations in Australia. As one of the named pillars of Takeda's Shimane exports, Kikuhana helped broaden the maternal and growth base of Fullblood Wagyu populations across both Australia and North America.