The Ueda Ryū was founded in Kansai by Tozan player Ueda Hōdō and his brother Chikudo after Hōdō was expelled from the Tozan school in 1917 for playing his own compositions at Tozan recitals. Ueda Hōdō had previously succeeded Nakao Tozan in 1971 as the head of a Tozan study group (kai) within Myōan-ha called Kyochiku-zenji Hōsan Kai (1951).