姫路の小さな和食屋さん　喰い処　音松

■Amakusa Daio... [A legendary high-quality chicken]

This is one of the largest chickens in Japan (roosters are 90cm tall and weigh about 7kg) that live in Kumamoto, and is named Amakusa Daio because it is raised in the Amakusa region.

From the Meiji to Taisho eras, they were kept as a meat breed in the Amakusa region, but it is said that they became extinct due to the economic recession in the early Showa era and the low egg-laying rate due to their large size.

Therefore, the Kumamoto Prefectural Agricultural Research Center (Koshi-cho, Kikuchi-gun) began crossbreeding the Lanshan breed with the Daishamo and Kumamoto Cochin in 1992 (Heisei 4), and after about 10 years of work, they succeeded in restoring the original Amakusa Daio breed in October 2001 (Heisei 13).

Of the five local chickens known as the Higo Five Chickens (Higo Chabo, Kurenkodori, Jisuri, Kumamoto breed, and Amakusa Daio), only the Amakusa Daio has been slow to recover because its foundation chicken, the Lanshan, is no longer bred in Japan.The meat breed "Amakusa Daio" is produced by crossbreeding the original Amakusa Daio with the "Kyushu Road", which has a high egg-laying rate, in order to increase egg-laying rate (to increase productivity).

The meat is raised slowly and carefully over 100 days, resulting in a large amount of meat, a chewy texture, and a rich flavor. Its size (one of the largest free-range chickens in Japan, with males weighing up to 7kg and females weighing up to 6kg) and taste make it first-class in every respect (it was previously highly prized as a hot pot dish in Hakata).