Ancient history of rice

Japan has long been famous for the excellence of its rice. It was suggested that rice cultivation in Japan began about 28900 years ago.  With the introduction of wet-paddy rice farming around 300 BC, the Japanese established more stable farming communities.

In ancient Japan, a person’s wealth was measured in kokus. One koku was 47 gallons of rice. Peasant taxes were charges in rice, and the government paid its high ranking workers with it.

In India, references to rice appear in ancient India Hindu script (estimated to be 1500 to 1000 BC). Up to the 1950s, the oldest excavations of rice grains was found at Hasthinapur, Uttar Predesh dated between 1000 and 750 BC.

Rice came to Java form India during the later period of Hindu influence, irrigated rice was introduced to Java in medieval times and spread gradually to the scattered communities of the southern Malay Peninsula.

Rice is first mentioned in Greek texts at the time of Alexander the Great.  Aristobulus who had accompanied Alexander on his Asiatic campaigns described wet farming, and Megasthenes explains how rice was used as the staple food in Indian meals.

According to Aristobulus, the rice stands in water enclosures and is sown in beds and the plant is four cubits in height, not only having many ears but also yielding much grain.

Aristobulus says that rice grows in Bactariana, Babylonia, Susida and lower Syria.
Ancient history of rice