UMEWAKA was originally called UMEZU, and their ancestor is said to be the head of a powerful family UMEZU from Kyoto, TACHIBANANOMOROE. They renamed their surname in 1481 when UMEWAKATAYU KAGEHISA was summoned to the Imperial Court by Emperor GOTSUCHIMIKADO. There he performed ASHIKARI and was given the name, gWAKAh and from there he introduces himself as gUMEWAKAh. Hereafter, the song ASHIKARI has been a special and meaningful song to the UMEWAKA family.
The UMEWAKA family was in Oda Nobunagafs favor, and as they went on promoting Noh, they would be awarded with a promoter. In the begging of the Edo-era around the time when the BUKESHIKIGAKU (samurai classfs entertainment) SHIZASEITEI(placing enactment) was about to be decided, because UMEWAKA was a retainer of Akechi Mitsuhide, the master of Castle Tamba, and because he owned a territory in Kyoto, therefore he was not able to go out to Edo but had to enter the KANZE family as a TSURE family. The UMEWAKA family did not become IEMOTO (the head representative of the family), but was in TOKUGAWA and MIYA familiesf favor, so when they performed they were known as gTAOh, the SHITE (leading role). Also they were treated as if they were an IEMOTO, and they received stipends not from the KANZE head representative family of the school, but directly from the Tokugawa family.
Each family went back to their regions, since the samurai class was nullified which was the consequence of the Meiji Restoration, but the UMEWAKA and TETSUNOJOU family (branch family of the KANZE family) stayed in Edo and kept on holding performances of Noh, even though they were in financial difficulty.
Tomomi Iwakura made an inspection to Europe and America, and realized the importance of garth culture. He took notice of gNohh and chose it as one of the gfine artsh to revive the culture, and held KAZOKU Noh performances.
UMEWAKA Rokurou ( Minoru the first) was the one who presented Noh at Iwakurafs residence with the Emperorfs inspection, which made a chance for each head family to go back to Tokyo. And so the Umewaka family and the Noh entertainment world were under the patronage of@financial combine of the Mitsui and Iwasaki familiesf and started to master TAKAMORI again.
Manzaburo the first was the first to become a member of the gJapan Academy of Arth, and by 1937 Minoru the first became a member of gJapan Academy of Arth too, and so the brothers both became a member of the gJapan Academy of Arth.
Like other families have sustained, the Umewaka lost their historic masks and costumes during the attack and bomb of World War U.
By 1955, Minoru the second became a member of the gJapan Academy of Arth, and the completion of Umewaka Noh Academy Hall(which is located in Higashi-Nakano) was completed by the 60sf, and established the Umewaka Noh Academy which was the only school in Japan which taught various types of Noh.
The UMEWAKA Rokuroh now, is Umewaka the fifty-sixth.
