On Fukuda's death in 1880, Kano, who had become his keenest and most able student in both "randori" and , was given the of the Fukuda dōjō. Kano chose to continue his studies at another "Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū" school, that of Iso Masatomo (c. 1820–1881). Iso placed more emphasis on the practice of "kata", and entrusted "randori" instruction to assistants, increasingly to Kano. Iso died in June 1881 and Kano went on to study at the dōjō of Iikubo Tsunetoshi (1835–1889) of . Like Fukuda, Iikubo placed much emphasis on "randori", with "Kitō-ryū" having a greater focus on .