In "Manyoshu" (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves) it was described as a bleak area, and the mausoleum of Empress Koken had recently been built there but it area had no significance as a honganchi (place written in a family register) or a residential area.
『万葉集』では鹿の音もわびしい山野と詠まれ、当時、孝謙天皇の陵がおかれたばかりであって、本貫地・居住地としての実体はまったくない。