I prefer itoigawa over kishu grafts. I like the look of the itoigawa and it has a greater resistance to spider mites over Kishu.
Many people don't realize there are different strains of itoigawa that vary in coarseness. Here, in the Los Angeles area, the itoigawa that comes from Chikugo-en nursery (Mas and Gary ishi), is the best quality.
My bonsai teacher has an actual Yamadori itoigawa imported from Japan. Its an awesome tree with great deadwood and all, but his trees with the grafted itoigawa foilage are a little finer.
I also have the si-dao books. Pretty cool books and I recommend the investment in them, however (and I may be wrong-after all, there is a first time for everything), I can't believe all the wood work done in the si-dao books is only fiber pulling. I bet there is allot of sand blasting going on also. But anyways, anybody into wood work should get these books.