Thanks for the clarifications Hyaku-san.
When you say "1.8", is that in shaku? I've been converting everything into inches so that comparison would be easier.
As far as the John Stevens translation, I thought that he might be referring to "yanagi gawa" (willow river), but noticed that Yanagigawa is also a family name. It is good to know that Yanagigawa and Yanagawa are the same thing though.
BTW, I meant to add a link to your article on Kage ryu battojutsu on the koryu.com site:
Kage ryu battojutsu
Regards,