My colleague, David Flath, is puzzled by how Japanese ikebana schools are run.

Ikebana schools are amazingly profitable and long lived enterprises. (Their revenue comes from selling classes in flower arranging.) The highest ranking member of the school is not the winner of a tournament but the familial heir of the previous headmaster.

For example: the current headmaster of a leading school is a member of the 45th generation of the same family: http://www.ikenobo.jp/english/ikenobo/iemoto/index.html

And another major school, founded in 1927, now has the fourth master from the same family: http://www.sogetsu.or.jp/english/ie_history/index.html

Questions: What if there are no dynastic heirs or heiresses that are artistic geniuses? Wouldn't making them masters then be inefficient? Why are ikebana schools run as family dynasties to begin with?

Comments and testable hypotheses are welcome.