Yamato Sarugaku (大和猿楽)
The Yamato Sarugaku is one of the groups performing Sarugaku (a traditional form of a Japanese theatre) mostly in Yamato Province (today's Nara Prefecture).
From the old days, the Yamato Sarugaku group had served for the Shinto rituals of Kofuku-ji Temple or Kasuga-taisha Shrine, and there were four major groups well known in Japan, including the Tobi Group, the Sakato Group, the Enmani Group and the Yuzaki Group, which were called the Yamato Shiza (the four groups of Yamato Sarugaku). In Muromachi period, Kannami and Zeami (father and his son), the Sarugaku performers of Yuzaki Group, were highly regarded by the Muromachi Shogunate family, and they developed the Sarugaku into the form of Noh (Sarugaku Noh) under the patronage of Muromachi Shogunate family. Later, the Yamato Sarugaku was also highly regarded by Toyotomi and Tokugawa clans. The Tobi Group later became the Hosho Group, the Sakato Group became the Kongo Group, and the Enmani Group became the Konparu Group, and the Yuzaki Group became the Kanze Group.