He graduated from Niigata Prefectural Muramatsu High School two years prior to Yoshifumi Kondō.
[citation needed] After graduation, he attended Wakō University where he studied fine arts.
[citation needed] In 1972, Yanagisawa won an honorable mention in the 4th Tezuka Shō Manga Story contest for his story Makeru na Kisaburō (submitted under his real name).
His contemporary, Kazuhito Kurosaki, also won second place in the same contest.
[citation needed] In 1978, he won the 3rd Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen for Tonda Couple.