Honkyoku
 A  solo music played by komuso monks now turned to be a one of the most popular shakuhachi music in contemporary music world (inside as well as outside of Japan).
There are many reasons for that. Many who have passed down those traditional pieces in modern time were non professional Shakuhachi players insisting on the tradition of playing Honkyoku only. By isolation from central musical scene in modern Japan where radical westernization took place, they, mostly intellectuals, have concentrated to focus on the spiritual side of Honkyoku.  It must be noted however that the contribution of contemporary music movement led by professional musicians trained with western music was also very important one. When we conceive the art as underlying spiritual representation of the ancient legend,  modern creation of Honkyoku might have been the very effort to revive the dying legend from the overwhelming westernization in modern Japan.

Myouan School (Taizan-Ha) was created in modern age by Taizan Higuchi (1856-1914) and can be seen as the most
established school where only Honkyoku is practised. The headquarters are located in Myouan-ji (Zen-Sui In in Tofuku-ji Temple) of Kyoto. After Taizan, follows are Kanshu (head) of the school.

The numbers in the parenthesis indicate the generation when Taizan is 35th generation as they claim.
Although the school claims longer lineage from legendary time, there is no evident connection to the older Mei-an school (Myou-an jinbo ryu) which is based on Kansai tradition and uses different notation. Indeed, their repertoire is mostly from Sei-en ryu (Fudai-ji) which Taizan learned in Nagoya. Taizan leaned some even from grand master of Kinko school, Kodo Araki (Chikuou). They are as follows. Taizan-ha uses notation ro tsu re chi ...., same as in Kinko school.
In Kanto (around Tokyo) area, Honkyoku and Komuso were controlled by Ichigetsu-ji temple and the people around it such as Kinko played a more central role in pre modern Japanese music scene. The history of Honkyoku went to in a quite different way. As opposed to the Myouan school in Kyoto, most of Honkyoku's passed down in Kanto area have been played by professional shakuhachi players. Therefore there is no established tradition of playing Honkyoku only in this area. Instead, it survived as a subset of repertoire in Kinko school which shifted their emphasis on teaching Gaikyoku or Sankyoku (ensemble music's). Those Honkyoku, Kinko style are well summarized in the John Singer's web page.

There are also less established Honkyou groups in rural areas as well. One of the most famous among them is Kinpoo school (Nezasa-Ha) which has strong root in Hirosaki (Tohoku area : Northern Japan). They developed quite unique techniques such as komibuki, tsuguri. There are many small groups or individuals specially in Tohoku area who succeed the tradition, while Shigeshi Inoue claims Souke of the Kinpoo school. Chikuho ryu is also a Honkyoku school founded by Chikuho Sakai I (1892-). They use the musical notation based on Myou-an jinbo ryu which is apparently developed from Hitoyo-giri tradition. After the death of Chikuho Sakai II who had great contribution to contemporary music scene, Shoudo Sakai succeeded the school as third generation. Although some of their repartoires are originated from Myouan jinbo ryu, the style Chikuho II developed was completely contemporary and might have been influenced by Wadatsu style.
Fuke-shu Tani Ha is a relatively small group and consists of followers of Kyohchiku Tani, the most famous, last Komuso who devoted his all life for the practice. They practice with only long shakuhachi (over 2.5) as Tani used to do it. Their emphasis is more on Komuso practice rather than musical training. Koku Nishimura (Kyushu), late student of Kyohchiku and Kyohaku Takahashi (Tokyo) lead their groups.
There is also a group of people called Myo-on-kai which has an activity based on Kokutai-ji temple (Toyama prefecture).
The last but not least school is a group of people influenced by Wadatsumi Do So directly or indirectly. Wadatsumi (Iccho Fumon) learned from Rogetsu Tsunoda in Kyushu and made an effort for revival of Icchou-ken tradition but later began to negate entire shakuhachi tradition itself. He appeared as a super technician in Honkyoku playing circle despite his persistent negation for musical practice. He had probably given the most significant influence to contemporary music scene. Katsuya Yokoyama, one of the most important professional shakuhachi player focusing on Honkyoku teaching today is his disciple.