Interesting stuff! Yeah, the grappling with the full-sized sword was what I was referring to - I was viewing Kukishinden Happo Biken on tape several years back and was immediately struck by the down-and-dirty stuff they had. A lot of caught steel, small, tricky body movements and downright dirty (
) moves at close range, as opposed to the technical cleanness one usually expects from koryu waza, like what one sees in Katori Shinto ryu. They probably call it by a different name, of course, but I think it's pretty much the same thing in concept and execution. Kukishinden is known to be a survival-oriented style that pulls out all the stops to pull the curtains shut on an opponent.
Please do tell us what went down if you make it to the next convention - I'm sure it'll be very informative
