Japanese sake has played an important role in Japanese culture for a long time. In the ancient days, getting drunk was considered as communicating to the gods in this country, and it was one of very important rituals.

Sakeis brewed from rice. Because of that, the history of Japanese sake is as old as that of planting of rice in Japan. Sake has been drunk since the end of the Jomon Era or the beginning of the Yayoi Era when the first seeds of rice was brought to Japan.

No matter what kind of alcoholic beverages, the process of the production is the same. In general, liquor is produced through the fermentation or the distillation of monosaccharides (the simplest form of carbohydrates, including glucose, fructose, and galactose). Ethyl-alcohol is made from monosaccharides with yeast. Because yeast exists in the air, alcohol can be naturally produced by preserving monosaccharides exposing to the air. Monosaccharides are contained in the fruits including grapes and apples.

Monosaccharides can also be produced by saccharifying starches, which is contained in grains like wheat, buckwheat, beans, peas and potatoes. Bourbon whisky made from corns is produced in the United States. In China, there is Baijiu made from sorghum beans, rice, corn, barley, wheat, oak and peas. In the mainland of Japan, rice has been used as the source of starches.

One of the most primitive methods of saccharifying starches is the mixing of them with saliva. Amylase from the saliva allows the starches to convert sugar. In the ancient period, kuchikami no sake or "chewing-in-the-mouth sake" was common in many areas of Japan to produce sake, where rice was chewed with chestnuts, millet, acorn and the mixture was spitted into a tub, and then this sweet mixture was allowed to naturally ferment.

Chewing rice was the job of young virgin girls. Supposedly the best sake made in this way came from their mouths, because men mainly drank sake in those days. The men drinking the sake together with their beloved girl's saliva sometimes fell in love with her, and some verses of love composed by the men are recorded in the chronicles.

Centuries later, the method of saccharification using koji, or Aspergillus oryzae, was invented instead of using saliva. The earliest production of sake with koji was recorded in the local chronicle, Harima no Kuni Fudoki, published in 713, saying: "the steamed rice offered to the gods got wet and moldy; sake was brewed with it and the party was held in the garden for the sake of the gods"

Tea was brought from China at latest by the eighth century. It was used for medicine by religious classes including priests. They drank it to prevent from falling asleep during ascetic exercises because it contains caffeine. Tea plant was not popular until the end of the eighth century.

Drinking milk produced from livestock was popular until Buddhism, forbiding people to have any animal products, spread nationwide. In addition to cow milk, people drank milk provided by horses, goats, sheep, and more.

Derivative products from milk were also made. Cheese, or so, was very precious in that period and it was used by only noble men and women for nourishment and beauty treatment. There were alcoholic beverages brewed from that milk.