Morita school (森田流)
The Morita school is a school of fue-kata (flute players) in Nohgaku (the art of Noh). The school used to call themselves Chino school or Genteki school as well.
Description
Their performances originated from a flute master named Hikobei FUE (also known as Hikobei HIGAIMOTO), and his style was handed down to Yoichizaemon CHINO and Genteki USHIO. Afterward, Shobe Mitsuyoshi MORITA (1597 - 1632) finally established the head family and they were retained by Ieyasu TOKUGAWA. They had played exclusively for the Kanze school during the Edo period, but the head family became extinct after Hatsutaro MORITA passed away in 1906.
Since they belonged to the Kanze school, which was the biggest school among yoza (literally, 'four schools,' representing major four Noh schools: the Kanze school, the Hosho school, the Kongo school, and the Konparu school), the bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) and various domains including the Kishu Domain had performers from the Morita school. This movement produced some branches in the early stages of this school and each branch family had its own scores and fingering, but this in fact helped the school survive in those trying times after the Meiji Restoration. Some performers such as Toki (登喜) MORIMOTO, Mitsukaze MORITA, Ichitaro SUGI, and Masakazu TERAI gave great performances after the head family became extinct.
This school features soft blows and sound compared to the Isso school. Their performance style roughly consists of the Edo type and the Kamigata (Kyoto-Osaka area) type, and Kamigata type performers tend to use many grace notes with supporting fingers. The basic structure of their scores is similar to the structures of the Fujita and the Shunnichi schools.