Until the early Edo period, rice was polished with a millstone and a mallet, or with a foot Chinese millstone at best, so the rice polishing ratio (the percentage of weight remaining after polishing) in those days was far less than today, when rice polishing makes it possible to produce high-quality sake, including "ginjoshu" (sake brewed at low temperatures from rice grains milled to 60% of weight or less).
江戸時代初期までは、精米は臼（うす）と杵（きね）、せいぜい足踏み式の唐臼（からうす）で行なっていたので、吟醸酒などを造り出す今日の精米歩合から比べればはるかに低かった。