Shindo Yoshin-ryū

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Shindo Yoshin Ryu or Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu ("Sacred Willow Style") is a koryu or old jujutsu style. The Shindo Yoshin Ryu tradition was founded late in the Edo period by a Kuroda clan retainer named Matsuoka Katsunosuke (1836-1898).

Shindo Yoshin-Ryu is heavily influenced by the teachings of Yoshin Ryu, which Matsuoka learned in the dojo of Hirotsuka Totsuka. As a student of the teachings of Jikishin Kage Ryu, Hokushin Itto Ryu, and Tenjin Shinyo Ryu, Matsuoka incorporated many facets of these schools and consolidated them into the foundational Shindo Yoshin-ryu. This name of the school would originally translate into “New Willow Style”, but the Japanese kanji character for shin was changed into the homonymous “sacred”.

Shindo Yoshin-ryu emphasizes grace and natural movement. Modern Shindo Yoshin ryu reflects combination of the jujutsu teachings of the Akiyama Yoshin Ryu lineage and the Nakamura Yoshin koryu lineage. Shindo Yoshin ryu was further influenced by the Jikishinkage ryu and Hokushin Itto ryu schools of kenjutsu.

Only two legitimate branches of Shindo Yoshin ryu remain: the Shindo Yoshin ryu Domonkai headed by Ryozo Fujiwara in Japan, and the Takamura ha Shindo Yoshin ryu headed by Tobin E. Threadgill in the United States.

Shindo Yoshin ryu was fundamental in the founding of one of Japan's most prominent styles of karate, Wado-ryu.