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is a Japanese term used to refer to the founder or current Grand Master of a certain school of traditional
Japanese art Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture, ink painting and calligraphy on silk and paper, ''ukiyo-e'' paintings and woodblock prints, ceramics, origami, and more recently manga and anime. It ...
. It is used synonymously with the term when it refers to the family or house that the iemoto is head of and represents. The word is also used to describe a system of familial generations in traditional Japanese arts such as
tea ceremony An East Asian tea ceremony, or ''Chádào'' (), or ''Dado'' ( ko, 다도 (茶道)), is a ceremonially ritualized form of making tea (茶 ''cha'') practiced in East Asia by the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. The tea ceremony (), literally transl ...
(including ), ,
Noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...
,
calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...
, traditional Japanese dance,
traditional Japanese music Traditional Japanese music is the folk or traditional music of Japan. Japan's Ministry of Education classifies as a category separate from other traditional forms of music, such as (court music) or (Buddhist chanting), but most ethnomusicolo ...
, the Japanese art of incense appreciation (), and
Japanese martial arts Japanese martial arts refers to the variety of martial arts native to the country of Japan. At least three Japanese terms (''budō'', ''bujutsu'', and ''bugei'') are used interchangeably with the English phrase Japanese martial arts. The usage ...
. and Go once used the system as well. The system is characterized by a hierarchical structure and the supreme authority of the , who has inherited the secret traditions of the school from the previous .


Titles

An may be addressed by the title or , or by the title or . In
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
, is often translated as "Grand Master". The 's main roles are to lead the school and protect its traditions, to be the final authority on matters concerning the school, to issue or approve licenses and certificates and, in some cases, to instruct the most advanced practitioners. The title of in most cases is hereditary. It is commonly transmitted by direct line, or by adoption. Once the "successor-to-be" is officially recognized, that successor-to-be may appropriate the title of . By tradition, the title of is also passed down along with a hereditary name. In the
Urasenke is one of the main schools of Japanese tea ceremony. Along with and , it is one of the three lines of the family descending from , which together are known as the - or the "three houses/families" (). The name , literally meaning "rear hous ...
tradition of tea ceremony, for example, the carries the name "Sōshitsu". There can only be one at the head of one school at a time, which sometimes leads to the creation of new "houses" or "lines" by those wishing to be themselves.


Structure

Officially recognized teachers of the traditional arts that hold the position of obtain a license to teach from the former , signifying the 's trust that the so-licensed person is capable and qualified to faithfully pass on the school's teachings. Students must also acquire licenses or certificates at various stages in their study. Depending on the school, such certificates either give the student permission to study at a particular level or affirm that the student has achieved a given level of mastery. Recipients must pay for these certificates which, at the highest level, may cost several million
yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...
. It is also the who authorises, selects and bestows ceremonial names for advanced practitioners.


History

As far back as the
Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...
(794–1185), there were -like family lines that were responsible for passing down the secret traditions and orthodox teachings of their particular school of art, but the first appearance of the word in extant records dates to the end of the 17th century, where it is used in reference to families entitled to have their sons become priests at great temples. Its use in the sense that it is used today, in the realm of traditional Japanese arts, starts to appear in documents in the middle of the 18th century. The system of is a manifestation of the or "household" and or "extended kin" pattern of relationships in Japanese society. The concept of the was developed further by the historian Matsunosuke Nishiyama in the post-war period to describe the social structures associated with exclusive family control and networks of instructors, a characteristic of the feudal era whose influence on traditional arts is still felt today.


Famous families and schools


Go

There were originally four main schools of Go players: Hon'inbō, Hayashi, Inoue and Yasui, alongside three minor schools: Sakaguchi, Hattori and Mizutani. Early in the 17th century, the then best player in Japan,
Hon'inbō Sansa Hon'inbō Sansa (本因坊 算砂, 1559 – June 13, 1623) was the assumed name of Kanō Yosaburō (加納 與三郎), one of the strongest Japanese Go players of the Edo period (1603–1867), and founder of the house of Hon'inbō, first am ...
, was made head of a newly founded Go academy (the , which developed the level of playing greatly, and introduced the martial arts style system of ranking players. The government discontinued its support for the Go academies in 1868 as a result of the fall of the
Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
. In honour of the Hon'inbō school, whose players consistently dominated the other schools during their history, one of the most prestigious Japanese Go championships is called the "Honinbo" tournament.


The three main schools of Japanese flower arrangement, or , are
Ikenobō is the oldest and largest school of ''ikebana'', the Japanese art of floral design. It was founded in the 15th century by the Buddhist monk Senno. The school is based at the Rokkaku-dō temple in Kyoto. The name is derived from a pond (''ike' ...
, Ohara, and Sōgetsu. According to the organization Network, there currently are 138 registered schools of small and large size ().


Traditional Japanese dance

There are about 200 schools of traditional Japanese dance. The five most famous are the Hanayagi-ryū, Fujima-ryū, Wakayagi-ryū, Nishikawa-ryū, and Bandō-ryū.


Incense appreciation

The two main schools of are the Shino-ryū and the Nijō-ryū.


Tea


Criticism and opposition

The system has been described as rigid, expensive, nepotistic, authoritarian and undemocratic. Some groups have chosen to reject the system. In the realm of the
Japanese tea ceremony The Japanese tea ceremony (known as or ) is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of , powdered green tea, the procedure of which is called . While in the West it is known as "tea ceremony", it is se ...
, Sensho Tanaka created the in 1898 to systematize teaching in a more democratic way outside the rigidity of the system.A Summary of the Dai Nihon Chado Gakkai
Dai Nihon Chado Gakkai official web site (English)
Hiroaki Kikuoka, a player, created a presidential system for his group.''Janet Pocorobba,'

Metropolis
player
Michiyo Yagi , a Japanese musician who studied koto under Tadao Sawai, Kazue Sawai and Satomi Kurauchi, and graduated from the NHK Professional Training School for Traditional Musicians. Between 1989 and 1990, during her tenure as visiting professor of musi ...
has rejected both the system and the traditional style of her instrument, choosing to strike
chords Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord ( ...
.Japanese Classical Music
NPR, August 24, 2003


See also

*


References


External links



(
Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
copy)
Sōgetsu school official site
(Wayback Machine copy)
Wakayagi-ryū Japanese classical dance 's official site

: the heart of Japan
{{Authority control Chadō Arts in Japan Japanese words and phrases History of Go