Yanagi Ryu

Kawaishi Mikinosuke's tuition is attributed to judo through high school and university, and before that, to ju-jutsu under the enigmatic Yoshida Kotaro.  Yoshida is said to have been skilled in Daito Ryu and Yanagi Ryu ju-jutsu.

I have found it difficult to find much on Yanagi Ryu, which Yoshida referred to as a family style.  Recently I discovered that Yoshin Ryu (forerunner to Tenjin Shinyo Ryu, which Kano Jigoro studied) was also known as Yanagi Ryu.  Yoshin Ryu is said to have been founded by Hitotsuyanagi Oribe and the founder of Tenjin Shinyo Ryu was Iso Mataemon Minamoto no Masatomo (who was also known as Sekizai Minamoto Masatari Yanagi).  Was there a connection and did Yoshida study one of these styes, I wonder?

I note, also, that Shin Getsu Muso Yanagi Ryu was an early ju-jutsu school.  One of its grandmasters, it is said, trained with a student of the 16th soke of Hotai Yoshin Ryu and the two ryu have some techniques in common.

So, does anyone have information on Yoshida's tutelage in Yanagi Ryu and that style's origins?

Sorry, all ... I should have done my homework more thoroughly.

Apparently, the inheritors of Yoshida's Yanagi Ryu themselves say that the lineage cannot be traced back beyond Yoshida Katoro. One koryu scholar, Toby Threadgill, suspects that the style MAY have descended from Shin Getsu Muso Yanagi Ryu. Mostly it is a gendai art with roots in koryu.

In looking at demonstrations by Don Angier, the man claiming to be the inheritor of Yoshida's Yanagi Ryu, his techniques bear no resemblance to the goshin jutsu taught by Kawaishi (at least, those taught to me). For that matter, I see no Daito Ryu in Kawaishi's goshin jutsu, either, so I have to question how much influence Yoshida had on Kawaishi or how well versed in Yoshida's ju-jutsu Kawaishi was. In my experience, his goshin jutsu is just that ... very simplified self defence. There is no aiki; no flow, little tai sabaki, little kuzushi. To be fair, Kawaishi jiu jitsu never holds itself out to be anything more than goshin jutsu and holds to no ancient lineage or tradition.