Red yeast rice (), red rice "koji" (べにこうじ, lit. 'red "koji"'), red fermented rice, red kojic rice, red "koji" rice, anka, or angkak, is a bright reddish purple fermented rice, which acquires its color from being cultivated with the mold "Monascus purpureus". Red yeast rice is what is referred to as a "koji" in Japanese, meaning "grain or bean overgrown with a mold culture", a food preparation tradition going back to ca. 300 BC. In both the scientific and popular literature in English that draws principally on Japanese traditional use, red yeast rice is most often referred to as "red rice "koji."" English language articles favoring Chinese literature sources prefer the translation "red yeast rice."