Prior to his death in 1680, Akiyama Shirōbei Yoshitoki (秋山四郎兵衛芳年) passed the tradition to Ōe Senbei Hirotomi (大江千兵衛広富), who was largely responsible for codifying the 303 kata that comprise the jūjutsu curriculum.
A sub-branch of the Miura line has survived with an unbroken transmission of headmasters to the current day: the Yōshin-ryū bukijutsu / naginata school in Hiroshima, headed by Koyama Noriko (小山宜子).
The Iwanaga mainline eventually passed to Shiota Jindayū (塩田甚太夫), who in 1780 combined its teachings with the Suzuki-ryu (鈴木流) and Nanba Ippo-ryû (難波一甫流) to create the Kurama Yōshin-ryū (鞍馬楊心流).
[7] Santō was perhaps better known as the seventh generation Headmaster of Miyamato Musashi's (宮本武蔵) famed Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu (兵法二天一流) school of swordsmanship,[8] and while he is known to have awarded complete transmission of Yōshin-ryū to at least five students, he did not appoint an inheritor to the tradition prior his death in 1909.
In common with other koryū, the curriculum is contained in a series of mokuroku (目録) or 'catalog' scrolls, presented when the practitioner achieves an appropriate level of technical and moral proficiency.
Fuzoku (auxiliary) bukijutsu methods are addressed in the betsuden mokuroku (別伝目録), while a range of esoteric knowledge inclusive of religious teachings or shinpi (神秘), and hyōhō (兵法), are recorded in manuals known collectively as densho (傳書).
A defining characteristic of historic Yōshin-ryū makimono is the finely detailed artwork they incorporate, marking them as excellent examples of the Japanese emakimono (絵巻物) or "picture scroll" tradition.