Morning Musume Members



This page consists of all current and former members of the J-pop group Morning Musume.

The group is known for their ever-fluctuating line-up, with "graduations" and auditions held nearly every year. As of December 2016, there have been a total of 40 members altogether (1997 - present), 25 graduated members, 2 members which have resigned and 13 generations. There are currently 13 members in Morning Musume '17 which consists of the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th generations.

Leadership

 * The sub-leader position was established on April 16, 2001, when Iida Kaori became the second leader.
 * The Sub-leader position was empty from October 1, 2011 to May 21, 2013, until Tanaka Reina graduated and assigned Fukumura Mizuki and Iikubo Haruna as the new Sub-Leaders.

Members Colors
Each Morning Musume member has her own color for outfits and merchandise to distinguish between each member. Over time as each member leaves the group, current or new members have the opportunity to change their current color to a different one which is available. No member has the exact same color, but some might have colors that look fairly similar to another member's.

Tenures
Notable tenures= Members of Morning Musume rarely stay in the group for more than six years, and to date only eleven members have done this.

Note: all names in BOLD are current members.
 * -|All Member Tenures=
 * 1) Michishige Sayumi: 11 Years, 10 Months, 7 Days
 * 2) Niigaki Risa: 10 Years, 8 Months, 2 Days
 * 3) Tanaka Reina: 10 Years, 4 Months, 2 Days
 * 4) Takahashi Ai: 10 Years, 1 Month, 5 Days
 * 5) Kamei Eri: 7 Years, 11 Months, 26 Days
 * 6) Iida Kaori: 7 Years, 4 Months, 24 Days
 * 7) Yoshizawa Hitomi: 7 Years, 21 Days
 * 8) Yaguchi Mari: 6 Years, 11 Months, 12 Days
 * 9) Abe Natsumi: 6 Years, 7 Months, 19 Days
 * 10) Fukumura Mizuki and Ikuta Erina: 
 * 11) Mitsui Aika: 5 Years, 5 Months, 8 Days
 * 12) Suzuki Kanon: 5 Years, 4 Months, 29 Days
 * 13) Iikubo Haruna, Ishida Ayumi, Sato Masaki and Kudo Haruka: 
 * 14) Ishikawa Rika: 5 Years, 21 Days
 * 15) Yasuda Kei: 5 Years, 2 Days
 * 16) Ogawa Makoto: 5 Years, 1 Day
 * 17) Sayashi Riho: 4 Years, 11 Months, 29 Days
 * 18) Konno Asami: 4 Years, 10 Months, 27 Days
 * 19) Kusumi Koharu: 4 Years, 7 Months, 5 Days
 * 20) Fujimoto Miki: 4 Years, 4 Months, 13 Days
 * 21) Oda Sakura: 
 * 22) Tsuji Nozomi, Kago Ai: 4 Years, 3 Months, 16 Days
 * 23) JunJun and LinLin: 3 Years, 9 Months
 * 24) Nakazawa Yuko: 3 Years, 7 Months, 8 Days
 * 25) Goto Maki: 3 Years, 1 Month, 1 Day
 * 26) Ishiguro Aya: 2 Years, 4 Months
 * 27) Ogata Haruna, Nonaka Miki, Makino Maria and Haga Akane: 
 * 28) Ichii Sayaka: 2 Years, 18 Days
 * 29) Fukuda Asuka: 1 Year, 7 Months, 11 Days
 * 30) Kaga Kaede and Yokoyama Reina: 

Mentors
Beginning with third generation, when a new member joins Morning Musume, a senior member is sometimes assigned to be their mentor. The mentor system was dropped after seventh generation, but was officially brought back for the twelfth generation.

Official mentors=
 * Third Generation
 * Ichii Sayaka → Goto Maki
 * Fourth Generation
 * Yasuda Kei → Ishikawa Rika (Team Vocals)
 * Yaguchi Mari → Yoshizawa Hitomi (Team Expressive Power)
 * Iida Kaori → Tsuji Nozomi (Team Rhythm)
 * Goto Maki → Kago Ai (Team Greeting and Manners)
 * Seventh Generation
 * Michishige Sayumi → Kusumi Koharu
 * Twelfth Generation
 * Iikubo Haruna → Mentor to all twelfth generation members
 * Thirteenth Generation
 * Kudo Haruka → Mentor to all thirteenth generation members


 * -|Unofficial mentors=
 * Fifth Generation
 * Yoshizawa Hitomi → Takahashi Ai
 * Abe Natsumi → Konno Asami
 * Ishikawa Rika → Ogawa Makoto
 * Yaguchi Mari → Niigaki Risa
 * Sixth Generation
 * Yasuda Kei → Mentor to all sixth generation members
 * Eighth Generation
 * Kusumi Koharu → Mitsui Aika
 * Kamei Eri & Tanaka Reina → Junjun
 * Ninth Generation
 * Mitsui Aika → Mentor to all ninth generation members
 * Tenth Generation
 * Mitsui Aika → Mentor to all tenth generation members
 * Twelfth Generation
 * Sato Masaki (Rhythm coach), Ishida Ayumi & Kudo Haruka (Performance Coaches) , Oda Sakura (Posing coach) → Mentor to all twelfth generation members

Trivia

 * Sato Masaki and Kudo Haruka are the first members to join the group that were born after Hello! Project's formation.
 * Sayashi Riho and Suzuki Kanon are the first members to have been born after the group's formation in 1997 (both were born in 1998).
 * Kudo Haruka is the youngest person to ever join Morning Musume at the age of 11 years and 11 months, and auditioning at age 11. She beat Kago Ai's 11-year record which was set at the age of 12.
 * 2008 was the only year so far in which no line-up changes occurred, and that line-up has been the longest unchanging lineup so far going over two years with no graduations or new members, until Kusumi Koharu graduated in December 2009.
 * Niigaki Risa is the only leader to have once been the youngest member of Morning Musume.
 * Takahashi Ai and Niigaki Risa are the longest serving leader and sub-leader (4 years).
 * Morning Musume received eight new members in 2011 (the 9th generation and 10th generation with 4 members each), making it the only year when two generations were added.
 * Fukumura Mizuki holds the record for being the youngest leader along with being the youngest sub-leader the group has ever had.
 * Fukumura Mizuki is also the fastest member to become the groups "Leader" excluding Nakazawa Yuko
 * Every generation since 8th generation have had at least one former Hello Pro Kenshuusei.
 * 1st generation Fukuda Asuka is the only former member that has never participated in any type of unit or subgroup during her time in Hello! Project.
 * 8th generation members Junjun and Linlin are the only members to graduate before a new generation has joined the group.
 * The most common age for members to join are at 12 and 13 years of age having 9 members for each of those ages joining the group.
 * The most common age for members to graduate/leave is at 22 years of age with 6 members graduating at that age.
 * Nakazawa Yuko, Yoshizawa Hitomi, and Fukumura Mizuki are the only leaders to match their generation. (Nakazawa as the first leader, Yoshizawa as the fourth leader, and Fukumura as the ninth leader).
 * The 3rd, 7th, and 8th generations are the only generations to have no member be a leader or sub-leader of the group.
 * To date, the 6th and 8th generations are the only generations to have members to joining on two separate dates; the 6th generation with a 13 days difference and the 8th generation with a 3 months difference (from December 2006 to March 2007).
 * 10th generation is the longest-lasting complete generation, as all of its members have stayed in the group for more than . (9th generation used to be the longest-lasting complete generation at 4 years 11 months and 29 days)
 * Iikubo Haruna and Ishida Ayumi were the last members to be born before the group's formation in September 1997.
 * The 11th generation is the first generation to have the members in that generation to all be born after the group's formation.
 * 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2015 are the only years where no new members were added.
 * Iikubo Haruna is the only current sub-leader to have gone through two different leadership reigns, with Michishige Sayumi and Fukumura Mizuki.
 * Every member of Morning Musume had at least one single (when they where on the group or are currently in the group) that reached the #1 spot on the Oricon weekly charts.
 * Iida Kaori, Abe Natsumi, Yasuda Kei and Yaguchi Mari are the only members to have participated in 9 singles that reached #1.
 * Ishiguro Aya, Yasuda Kei, Ichii Sayaka, Tanaka Reina and Sayashi Riho are the only members to have their gradating single reach #1 on the Oricon charts.
 * The 7th, 12th, and 13th generations are the only generations to hold more than one audition.
 * 3rd and 4th generations are the only members to have their debut single be a graduation single as well.
 * 12th generation is the first generation in the group to have debuted in a triple A-side single, and also the first generation where their debut single didn't have a B-side.
 * The year 1999 has the most member births out of any year with 6 members being both that year, in order it is: Ogata Haruna (February 15th), Oda Sakura (March 12th), Sato Masaki (May 7th), Nonaka Miki (October 7th), Kudo Haruka (October 27th), and Kaga Kaede (November 30th).
 * Coincidently they all are blood type A.
 * The 11th and 13th generations are the only generations to be entirely composed of Hello Pro Kenshuusei.

External Link

 * Wikipedia: English