This article uses the word "sake" as it is used in English, as the name for this specific Japanese beverage made from rice. However, in Japanese, the word sake ( ; usually preceded by the honorific prefix o-) means rice beverage in general and not exclusively this specific single beverage; instead, the word is used to distinguish it from other beverages. In English, the word "sake" always refers to Nihonshu.

Sake is also referred to in English as "Japanese rice wine," but the characterisation implied is not accurate. Wine is made from the single fermentation of plant juices (other than sparkling wine, which can be a double fermentation to create the carbonation). Sake is produced by multiple fermentation of rice, which is similar to the way beer is produced.

Other beverages

The word "sake" can also refer to different beverages in different regions of Japan:

• In Southern Kyūshū, sake usually refers to a distilled wine, sweet potato shōchū (imo-jōchū lang: 芋焼酎). Shōchū is a distilled spirit made with kōji-kin (lang: 麹 or lang: 糀), Aspergillus oryzae.
• In Okinawa, sake may refer to shōchū made from sugar cane, awamori (lang: 泡盛, literally "heaping bubbles"), or koshū (lang: 古酒, literally "ancient drink").

History

The history of sake is not well documented and there are multiple theories on how it was developed. One theory suggests that the brewing of rice started in China, along the Yangtze River and was subsequently exported to Japan. Another theory traces sake brewing back to 3rd century Japan with the advent of wet rice cultivation.Fact: date=July 2007 The combination of water and rice lying around together would have resulted in molds and fermentation.

Regardless, the first sake was called kuchikami no sake, (Japanese for "chewing the mouth sake" or mouth chewed sake) and was made by people chewing rice, chestnuts, millet, acorn and spitting the mixture into a tub. The enzymes from the saliva allowed the starches to saccharify (convert to sugar). This sweet mixture was combined with freshly cooked grain and allowed to naturally ferment. This early form of sake was likely low in alcohol and consumed like porridge. This method was used by Native Americans; see cauim, and pulque. Chinese millet wine, (小米酒), made the same way, is mentioned in inscriptions from the 14th century BC as being offered to the gods in religious rituals. Later, from approximately the 8th century BC, rice wine, (米酒) with a formula almost exactly like that of the later Japanese sake, became popular in China.