Aspergillus oryzae, also known as kōji mold , Hepburn: nihon kōji kabi), is a filamentous fungus used in East Asia to saccharify rice, sweet potato, and barley in the making of alcoholic beverages such as sake and shōchū, and also to ferment soybeans for making soy sauce and miso. However, in the production of fermented foods of soybeans such as soy sauce and miso, Aspergillus sojae is sometimes used instead of A. oryzae. Incidentally, in China and Korea, the fungi used for fermented foods for a long time in the production of traditional alcoholic beverages were not A. oryzae but fungi belonging to Rhizopus and Mucor. A. oryzae is also used for the production of rice vinegars. Barley kōji or rice kōji are made by fermenting the grains with A. oryzae hyphae.