Saibara (催馬楽) is a genre of accompanied vocal Japanese court music[1] that existed during the Heian period in the Nara and Kyoto regions.
It may have developed out of music to drive horses along, as the Chinese characters that compose its name seem to indicate[5] but, according to German musicologist Eta Harich-Schneider, there are several other theories.
About 55 pieces have been transcribed into modern Western notation from original 12th century sources by Elizabeth Markham.
Emperor Horikawa (1079-1107), despite the taste for Chinese culture since the Nara period, also cultivated an interest in fūzokuuta.
A fashionable aristocrat was not regarded à jour if he did not know of the latest Chinese imports, such as toka music.