Isso school (一噌流)
The Isso school is one of the schools of fue-kata (flute players) in Nohgaku (the art of Noh).
Description
Shichirozaemon NAKAMURA, who was a follower of a flute master named Hikobei FUE, established this family, and the name of the school originated from his son named Matasaburo because he called himself Jisai ISSO. The third generation head named Hachirouemon began to use Isso as their family name, and the school flourished as the exclusive performers for the Hosho school during the Edo period. The school had some great performers including the 12th generation head named Matarokuro ISSO, Mikuma SHIMADA (he temporarily acted as a deputy head of the family), Shonosuke ISSO, and Daigoro FUJITA (he was a Living National Treasure) during the early-modern times.
After the Meiji Restoration, followers of Matarokuro ISSO and Mikuma SHIMADA standardized the performance styles within the school, and consequently, there is little difference in performance style between performers or regions. The remarkable features of this school are shrill blasts, modest grace notes, and simple and powerful expression, and the structure of their music scores is totally different from those of other schools. They are active particularly in Tokyo and the Kyushu region, and approximately 10 performers from this school are registered with the Nohgaku Performers' Association. The current head of the school is Yoji ISSO the 14th.