According to a legend, the founder was said to be HATA no Kawakatsu, who was a retainer of Prince Shotoku, but in actual fact, the origin of the school is considered to have been from the Enmani troupe, one of the four Sarugaku groups from Yamato (Yamato Sarugaku yoza) that served the Kasuga Taisha Shrine and the Kofuku-ji Temple in Nara in the early Muromachi period.
伝説の上では聖徳太子に近侍した秦河勝を初世としているが、実質的には室町時代前期に奈良春日大社・興福寺に奉仕した猿楽大和四座の一、円満井座に端を発すると考えられている。