Author Archives: BartitsuSociety

Edith Garrud Jiujitsu Gallery (c. 1910)

The Getty Archive offers this gallery of extremely rare photographs of Edith Garrud and her students demonstrating jiujitsu techniques circa 1910.

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Raising Cane in CHiPs (1982)

The latest installment of our very occasional but long-running “umbrella/cane fight scene” series takes us back to 1982. In this action-packed episode of CHiPs, reformed karate gang leader (which was a thing, but only sort of) Andy Macedon (Lewis Van … Continue reading

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Suffrajitsu in “De Rare Jacob” (1910)

A satirical response to the suffrajitsu phenomenon in this cartoon from the Dutch journal De rare Jacob (1910). The caption translates as “The suffragettes haven’t been at all shy about using their feet for jiu-jitsu—rather like how the ‘weaker,’ more … Continue reading

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Fighting with a Heavy Walking Stick

Oliver Janseps teaches how to transition from a high double-handed guard into a double-handed strike with a heavy cane, as per Barton-Wright’s “Self Defence with a Walking Stick” article series for Pearson’s Magazine.

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“Sherlock Holmes: The Hunt for Moriarty”

A trailer for this recent Blackeyed Theatre production, which clearly featured its fair complement of Bartitsu-flavoured action scenes.

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“The New Art of Self Defence: How Bartitsu Reimagined ‘Antagonistics’ in Edwardian England”

Now available from Amazon, this new book is a revised, updated and significantly expanded version of the “Bartitsu Story” section of The Bartitsu Compendium, Vol. III (2022). As the third volume of the Compendium was a bookshelf-busting 629 large-format pages, … Continue reading

Posted in Academia, Antagonistics, Biography, Boxing, Canonical Bartitsu, E. W. Barton-Wright, Edwardiana, Exhibitions, Fencing, Hooliganism, Jiujitsu, Physical Culture, Pop-culture, Savate, Vigny stick fighting, Wrestling | Comments Off on “The New Art of Self Defence: How Bartitsu Reimagined ‘Antagonistics’ in Edwardian England”

“There’s an art to fighting …”: “Young Sherlock” trailer promises action and intrigue

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“The Bartitsu Club of London” (L’Éducation physique : revue sportive illustrée, October 1, 1902)

Here follows a translation of this short 1902 article; notably, the Bartitsu School of Arms had actually closed by the time this piece was first published. Jacketed Wrestling The Bartitsu Club of London is directed by M. Pierre Vigny, who … Continue reading

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Bartitsu cane against two handed clubs and staffs

Oliver Janseps teaches the canonical Pearson’s Magazine article techniques of employing the Vigny cane against an alpenstock (spiked hiking staff) and a double-handed club attack.

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“Victorian Krav Maga? The Incredible Rise and Fall of Bartitsu”

There’s a proliferation of short “What was Bartitsu?” YouTube videos, including many AI-generated offerings, but this piece from the Informed Martial Artist channel is unusually accurate and effective (despite some questionable AI-rendered “photos” of Barton-Wright and the other principal figures). … Continue reading

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