The style of performance in the Tojiro YAMAMOTO family is antique and upright, inheriting the tradition of "buke shikigaku" (dance and music performed in the official place of Buke [samurai family]), while that in the Sengoro SHIGEYAMA family is realistic and easy to understand.
山本東次郎家が武家式楽の伝統を今に残す古風で剛直な芸風なのに対して、茂山千五郎家は写実的で親しみやすい芸風である。