[1] In 1900, the nineteen-year old Yukio, his brother Kaneo and a fellow jujutsuka Seizo Yamamoto travelled to London by invitation of Edward William Barton-Wright, the founder of Bartitsu.

[2] His brother and Yamamoto soon returned to Japan, but Yukio stayed in London and began appearing at music halls, giving demonstrations of jujutsu and placing challenges to all comers.

Tani and Uyenishi were also employed as jujutsu instructors at Barton Wright's "Bartitsu School of Arms and Physical Culture" at 67b Shaftesbury Avenue in London's Soho district.

After breaking with Barton-Wright in 1902, Tani joined forces with veteran show business promoter William Bankier, who had himself been a music hall performer under the name "Apollo, the Scottish Hercules" and had met Yukio in his tenure with Barton.

At 5 feet 6 inches (1.68 metres) Tani allegedly lost only one music hall match and that was to a fellow Japanese national, Taro Miyake, in 1905.

As the concept and practise of submission wrestling was foreign to most non-British European wrestlers during this period, this did offer Tani a tactical advantage in his challenge matches.

[10] Tani wrote about his teachers, in an open letter to the Western Morning News, "They are not a Richards or a Bazeley, but they are kind and teach me what is right and what is wrong and from that I shall be able to develop my own plans, so that when I come to Cornwall I shall have a little knowledge and confidence, and shall endeavour to do my best.

[15][16] A painting of Tani by George Lambourn, in the ownership of the Budokwai, was restored by Lucia Scalisi during an August 2018 episode of the BBC Television programme The Repair Shop.