Tsuchi Butai is a historic site located in Abe mountain castle ruins, Sakurai City, Nara Pref. In 612, Prince Shotoku assembled boys at this place to give them lessons of Gigaku (Japanese ancient theatrical performance) that a Korean musician Mimashi had mastered in China. Gigaku is a kind of dance drama wearing masks. In the Nara period this theatrical art was so prosperous that there were Gigaku performers employed by the Imperial court and it made a great contribution to the development of Japanese theatrical plays. Tsuchi Butai is in this sense the birthplace of Japanese performing art. A modern literary critic, Yasuda Yojuro, introduced this place as the oldest National Theater in Japan, and the ceremony to throw light on its hidden contribution was held in 1972. Since then, Kagari-Noh (Noh by the light of burning torches) has been performed every year in memory of this ceremony.