Sixteen rice samples stored under 15°C for 5 to 7 years after harvest were examined for their characteristics for sake brewing compared with fresh rice, Nipponbare, harvested in 2003. Some of long-term stored rice samples showed high loss and high ratio of broken grains in the polishing tests both by a grain testing mill and by a 60 kg scale mill. The properties in the polishing test widely differed among the samples tested. The water absorbance of long-term stored rice samples was lower than that of the fresh rice sample, while their digestibility was about the same as the fresh rice sample. The long-term stored rice samples contained potassium and hexanal at highers level than the fresh rice sample, but we could not detect hexanal in steamed and then cooled long-term stored rice samples. The moromi mash of the long-term stored rice showed a slightly faster fermentation rate, and the yield of the sake from the mash was slightly higher than that of the fresh rice sample. Athough some panels pointed out bitterness or zatsumi to the sake brewed from long-term stored rice, the general quality of the sake didnot show significant differences with the sake from fresh rice. The level of dimethylsulfide in the all sake samples brewed on a small scale was less than 1ppb, which is far below the estimated threshold value in sake (10 ppb).