A Study of Classical Arts and the “Iemoto” -Institution II.

Abstract

Secondly, the hierarchical organization of the school must be mentioned. Those apprentice families in which family rank and its hierarchical status come into question are very limited in number in the school. They are direct apprentices belonged to the main master family (soke), and constitute a ruling stratum in the school. There are called “shokubun”. Those who belonged to this category are as follows : 1) Members of hereditary apprentice families of the main master which have been associated with him prior to Meiji Restoration, or kin of the main master family of the “Kanze” school.2) Those who entered the master family recently as private apprentices and, after a long period of apprenticeship, founded their own families. 3) Infrequently, those who are recognized as being of great merit by the master are raised from lower strata to this category.Most of those other than shokubun are “shihan”, and as they belong to shokubun families, they are twice subordinate, once to the main master and once to the shokubnu. A few of the shihan are intermediate in status between shokubun and shihan, as they may become shokubun in the future, and they are called “quasi-shokubun”. The main differences between these two strata are summarized as follows : 1) The status of shokubun is formally recognized as hereditary, but shihan, as they are not recognized as formal apprentices of the master, have no such guarantee.2) The right to participate in the management of art performance of the Kanze school is only given to shokubun members. Thus, shihan have few opportunities to participate in performances held under the auspices of the main master family. 3) The right to communicate directly with the main master about the art is only given to shokubun. In case of requests for credentials and right to give performances, instruction in the arts and the utilization of densho (instruction codes), shihan must make these requests through the shokubun to which they belong. Thus, the shihan are extremely limited in their sphere of action and consequently are economically handicapped.The right to communicate directly with the main master is called “Jikibuntsu” (to communicate directly), and is a special privilege of shokubun in the school. For this reason shokubun has sometimes called “Jikibuntsu”. In this sense, shihan are “out-siders” as regards access to the main master.Finally, the problem of the master-apprentice relationship among the members of the school must be treated. As the hierarchical structure suggests, the whole school is composed of the many master-apprentice groups centered around the main master family and shokubun families. Then, to understand the structure and group characteristics of the school, the individual masterapprentice relationships must be understood. In each master-apprentice group, two types of apprenticeship can be distinguished.1) One is that of those who entered the master's family in early childhood as “living-in” private apprentices and, after long apprenticeship, became independent. They are the so-called “kogai”.2) The other is that of those who started their art career in adulthood as “amatures” and received their training as “kayoideshi” (living-outapprentice). They are called “chunen-mono”.