In the Meiji period, the family became alienated from the main school, and in 1959 Sotsu KOBORI, the fifth tea master, requested independence; as a result, his way of tea ceremony became called the Kobori Enshu school.
明治頃から本家とは疎遠になり、昭和34年（1959年）15代宗通が独立を申し入れて小堀遠州流を称するようになった。