gigaku

, also known as , refers to a genre of masked drama-dance performance, imported into Japan during the Asuka period. This form of masked dance drama declined by the Kamakura period and became essentially extinct, although there are modern attempts at revival. It had influences on a number of Japanese performance arts such as Noh, bugaku, and kyōgen theatres and shishimai performances.

==History== Records state that was introduced during the 20th year of the reign of Empress Suiko (612 AD) by a certain from Kudara kingdom (Baekje), one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. According to accounts, Mimaji arrived in Sakurai and taught to the Japanese youth. It is said that he had studied in Wu (China), showing that the origins of can be traced back to China, as during the Suiko period (593/604–658 AD), the Japanese court took heavy influence from Chinese and Korean culture. The regent at the time, Prince Shōtoku, played a decisive role in allowing and diffusing Buddhist culture within Japan; this spread of culture allowed to be performed and viewed by many Japanese individuals, as it promoted the religion. peaked during the first half of the 8th century, but began to disappear when took over as the official entertainment of the imperial palace, though was still performed and taught in areas far from the capital and continued to play a role in Japanese entertainment until up to the 14th century. Many wooden masks were painted at this time, most dating from the Nara period (710–784), and are now preserved at the Hōryūji and Tōdaiji temples and the imperial treasure house (Shōsōin), all in Nara. Masks were an integral aspect of theatre and represented various characteristics and properties and later influenced other parts of Japanese theatre.