Chisaki Morito

**Chisaki Morito** is a Japanese pop singer under Hello! Project. She is the former sole 14th generation member of Morning Musume. She was first introduced when she failed a Morning Musume audition. She was also a member of Country Girls. Prior to joining Hello! Project, she was a member of the local idol group CoCoRo Gakuen.

On 20th June 2022, Chisaki graduated from Morning Musume and Hello! Project in order to study abroad. They will deeply miss her.

## History

### Early Life

Chisaki Morito was born on February 19, 2000 in Tochigi, Japan. She attended the Star Project Academy dance school.

### 2014

In spring-summer 2014, Morito participated in the Morning Musume '14 (Golden) Audition! for an opportunity to become a 12th generation member, but failed to join the group.

On November 1, Morito graduated from CoCoRo Gakuen.

On November 5, it was announced that Morito was added to Country Musume, now called Country Girls, alongside Tsugunaga Momoko, Yamaki Risa, Inaba Manaka, Shimamura Uta and Ozeki Mai. Yanagawa Nanami and Funaki Musubu would join the group a year later.

### 2015

On September 8, Morito released her first solo e-Hello! Blu-ray, Greeting ~Morito Chisaki~.

In December, Morito Chisaki was added to the Hello! Project Station Dance Club.

### 2016

On February 19, Morito celebrated her 16th birthday at a special event titled Country Girls Morito Chisaki Birthday Event 2016, featuring two performances in Tokyo. On the same day, Morito released her first mini solo photobook titled Morito Chisaki Mini Photobook "Greeting -Photobook-".

On June 24, it was announced Morito would become the new ambassador for Tochigi Prefecture. A formal event and a mini live with all of Country Girls were held at the VERY GOOD LOCAL Tochigi Fair on July 3.

### 2017

On January 13, it was announced that Morito would release her first solo photobook, Morito Chisaki, on February 19.

On February 20, Morito celebrated her 17th birthday at an event titled Country Girls Morito Chisaki Birthday Event 2017, featuring three performances at TOKYO FM HALL.

Morito became a regular on the Tochigi travel show Tochigi Hatsu! Tabi Suki! beginning from April 12.

On June 9, it was announced that Country Girls would be ceasing regular activities and that three of the members, including Morito, would be transferring to other Hello! Project groups. On June 26, through a special episode of Hello! Project Station, it was revealed that Morito would be joining Morning Musume '17 as a new sole 14th generation member. She began performing with group in the Hello! Project 2017 SUMMER concert tour and Morning Musume '17's fall tour.

On June 28, Morito released her first solo image Blu-ray, Chisaki in Paradise. Her member color, out of all things, is revealed to be White, making her the first member to get this colour.

On August 24 and 31, Morito made her first two appearances in the 12th generation and 13th generation members' weekly radio show Morning Musume '17 no Morning Diary. On the day of her second broadcast, it was announced she would become a regular from then on.

### 2018

On February 19, Morito celebrated her 18th birthday at a fanclub event titled Morning Musume '18 / Country Girls Morito Chisaki Birthday Event, featuring two shows at Yamano Hall.

On May 27, the Fami Hello! PHOTOBOOK was released, including Morito's gravure that was originally published in a March 2016 issue of Weekly Famitsu.

On October 15, former Berryz Koubou member Kumai Yurina released Complex ni Sayounara!, a joint book with four of the shortest current members in Hello! Project at the time, which were her, Reina Yokoyama, and ANGERME members Kamikokuryo Moe, and Funaki Musubu who have been named Minis?.

### 2019

On February 19, Morito celebrated her 19th birthday at a fanclub event titled Morning Musume '19 / Country Girls Morito Chisaki Birthday Event, featuring two shows at Yamano Hall.

On June 27, she released her second solo photobook Say Cheese!.

On December 26, Country Girls suspended all activities, and Morito, alongside the other Country Girls members, subsequently graduated from the group. Afterwards, she would continue activities in Morning Musume and would be the only Country Girls member to remain in Hello! Project by the end of 2020, excluding former member Inaba Manaka, who graduated in 2016, then joined Juice=Juice.

### 2020

On February 5, it was announced that Morito had recent difficulty getting her voice to come out when singing and was diagnosed with vocal cord nodules by a doctor. She had been advised to take a break from singing for a number of weeks and will only participate in lives without singing until further notice.

On February 20, she celebrated her 20th birthday at a fanclub event titled Morning Musume '20 Morito Chisaki Birthday Event, featuring two shows at Yamano Hall.

On May 14, she opened up an official Instagram account.

On October 1, she released her third solo photobook, *Crossroads*.

### 2021

On February 19, she celebrated her 21st birthday at a fanclub event titled Morning Musume '21 Morito Chisaki Birthday Event, featuring two shows at Yamano Hall.

### 2022

On February 21, she celebrated her 22nd birthday at a fanclub event titled Morning Musume '22 Morito Chisaki Birthday Event, featuring two shows at KT Zeep Yokohama.

On February 28, Chisaki Morito announced that she will be graduating from Morning Musume and Hello! Project in order to study English abroad. While she was thinking about her future, she thought about learning English in earnest, which she had been interested in and had studied little by little on her own, and to become more confident in herself being in a new environment. Morito thought about graduating in 2021, but because of the Covid-19 pandemic, she postponed her decision. She is set to graduate on June 20 with the final concert of the Morning Musume '22 CONCERT TOUR ~Never Been Better!~ at Nippon Budokan. After her graduation, she is planning to study abroad for a year and a half, and later returning to continue her entertainment activities in Japan under Up Front Promotion.

On May 13, it was reported that Morito was diagnosed with COVID-19. On May 12, Morito had a fever and sore throat, and after taking a PCR test, a positive reaction for COVID-19 was confirmed the following day. In response to the result, it was also announced that Morning Musume members Miki Nonaka, Kaede Kaga and Reina Yokoyama, and Juice=Juice member Arisawa Ichika are suspected of being close contacts, so the members would be under self-isolation for a period. As result, the May 14 and May 15 concerts of the Hello! Project 2022 Spring CITY CIRCUIT Morning Musume '22 CONCERT TOUR ~Never Been Better!~ in Aichi were cancelled. On May 20, with the announcement of Ayumi Ishida being diagnosed with COVID-19, it was also announced that Morito would remain under self-isolation despite not having fever or other symptoms.

On June 10, she will release her fifth solo photobook, cheers.

On June 20, she graduated from Morning Musume and Hello! Project at the Morning Musume '22 CONCERT TOUR ~Never Been Better!~ Morito Chisaki Sotsugyou Special in Nippon Budokan. A day after, on June 21, she released a cover of the song "Mikan" digitally, in which she performed at her graduation concert.

On October 17, Morito made her first appearance after graduating from Morning Musume and Hello! Project in the YouTube channel *Hello! Ryuugaku Channel ~Study Abroad~*. In the video, she revealed that she is currently studying abroad in Hawaii. Since then she has continued posting to the channel alongside Nakajima Saki.

### 2023

On January 1, she was transferred from UP-FRONT PROMOTION to J.P ROOM alongside Sayumi Michishige, Masaki Sato, Manaka Inaba, Risa Ogata and Kaede Kaga.

## Appearance

Chisaki is seen wearing a white shirt, white skirt and black shoes. She has brown hair tied into a pony tail.

## Trivia

* She was in Country Girls before joining Morning Musume. She joined Morning Musume after the members of Country Girls went part-time after Momoko Tsugunaga's graduation. Manaka and Nanami joined Juice=Juice until Nanami graduated from both groups in March 2019 while Musubu became a member of ANGERME and Risa later became a member of College Cosmos. Yamaki had graduated from College Cosmos and retired from the entertainment industry in favour of looking for a job, Ozeki Mai, who was the only one not to join another group, would plan on continuing show-business while applying for university, and Funaki graduated from ANGERME and Hello!Project to study dancing.
* She and Inaba Manaka were the last original Country Girls members active in Hello! Project after the group suspended activities. They both graduated from Hello! Project just 21 days apart from each other in 2022.