In 612, Mimaji (味摩之) from Backjae (百済) introduced Gigaku dance (伎楽) into Japan. The Japanese court settled him in the town of Sakurai (桜井) and opened the training school. Yasuda Yojurou (保田與重郎) ascertained that Sakurai was located on the present Sakurai Children's Park with the historical evidences. However, those evidences do not trace back beyond the mid-Heian period (平安794-1185).
I investigated a folk song of Saibara (催馬楽) and the history of Gankouji temple (元興寺), which were the pre-Heian records and documents. In addition, considering the distribution of the powers in the seventh century, and the recent excavations, etc., I reached the conclusion that Sakurai was situated around Kougenji temple (向原寺) in the present Asuka town (明日香).
