DISCUSSION OF THE ORIGIN OF ANCIENT JAPANESE SAKE - SAKE BREWING BY MEANS OF CHEWING AND SPROUTING

From a study of various records, the author suggests that Japanese sak e may have originated as follows. The Jyomon people [GRAPHICS] -the fi rst inhabitants of Japan- were taught sake brewing by means of chewing rice by the non-Chinese people who crossed the East China Sea to Japa n from the southern part of China in the 5th century BC. Later, the Ya yoi people [GRAPHICS] -Chinese people who came from China or Korea to Japan- taught the Japanese people sake brewing by means of sprouted ri ce in the 2nd-4th century AD. From the 4th to the 9th centuries AD, th e sprouted rice saccharifying agent was improved through adding sprout ed rice infected by Aspergillus oryzae to steamed rice infected by Asp . oryzae, that is koji.