Kitō-ryū was taught at the Kōbusho by Motoyama Shōō (本山正翁) and Iikubo Tsunetoshi (飯久保恒年) — the latter was later best known as Kanō Jigorō’s teacher.
Motoyama Shōō was a Kōbusho Kitō-ryū jūjutsu kyōju-kata at the bakumatsu and the father of Kanō Jigorō’s Tokyo University classmate Motoyama Masahisa; it was Motoyama who introduced Kanō to Iikubo. Iikubo Tsunetoshi (common name Kuwakichi) was Edo-born, learned Kitō-ryū from youth under Takenaka Tetsunosuke as his senior disciple, opened a dōjō at Azabu Higakubo, and likewise served as a Kōbusho kyōju-kata; after the Restoration he followed the Tokugawa to Shizuoka, then returned to a post in Tokyo. He received his license in 1856, and was Kanō’s last jūjutsu teacher.
Kitō-ryū is the school behind judo’s Koshiki-no-kata, and the contrast between throw-centric Kitō-ryū and the atemi-and-grappling of Tenjin Shin’yō-ryū is what pushed Kanō toward his synthesis. Iikubo also regularly cross-matched with Totsuka-ha Yōshin-ryū.
