The successful transmission of chromosomes during mitosis and meiosis relies on the establishment and subsequent release of cohesion between replicated chromatids. Cohesion is mediated by a four-subunit SMC (structural maintenance of chromosome) complex, called cohesins. REC8 is a key component of this meiotic cohesion complex in most model organisms studied to date. Here, we isolated and dissected the functions of OsREC8, a rice REC8 homolog, using two null Osrec8 mutants. We showed that OsREC8 encodes a protein that localized to meiotic chromosomes from approximately meiotic interphase to metaphase I. Homologous pairing and telomere bouquet formation were abnormal in Osrec8 meiocytes. Furthermore, fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) experiments on Osrec8 meiocytes demonstrated that the mutation eliminated meiotic centromeric cohesion completely during prophase I and also led to the bipolar orientation of the kinetochores during the first meiotic division, and accordingly resulted in premature separation of sister chromatid during meiosis I. Immunolocalization analyses revealed that the loading of PAIR2, PAIR3, OsMER3 and ZEP1 all depended on OsREC8. By contrast, the presence of the OsREC8 signal in pair2, pair3, Osmer3 and zep1 mutants indicated that the loading of OsREC8 did not rely on these four proteins. These results suggest that OsREC8 has several essential roles in the meiotic processes.