Author Archives: BartitsuSociety

“What are ‘canonical’ and ‘neo’ Bartitsu?”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 28th March 2014 The explosive success of the Sherlock Holmes movies have embedded an awareness of Victorian-era martial arts into the popular imagination. In the wake of that success, it may be useful to … Continue reading

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Sherlockian Self-Defence with a Walking Stick (1988)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 31st March 2014 Members of the Sherlock Holmes Society posing as the characters Reginald Musgrave and Baron Gruner engage in a spot of walking-stick combat during the Society’s annual pilgrimage to the Reichenbach Falls.

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Suffrajitsu! (March, 1914)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 12th April 2014 (Iterations of the following article appeared in many newspapers during mid-late March of 1914.) It has come at last! The word for which the world has long waited, the … Continue reading

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Self-Defense for Suffragettes – Free Bartitsu Class and Exhibit of Suffragette Artifacts

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Wednesday, 16th April 2014 Have you always wanted to learn a martial art or be the kind of man or woman who is truly “kick-ass” but in a genteel and civilized way? The … Continue reading

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Fight Scene from “Suffragette”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 21st April 2014 Below: a stuntman and stuntwoman rehearse a fight scene on the set of Suffragette, currently in production in London. The movie is scheduled to be released in 2015.

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“A safe way for one man to disable another when both are equally well armed with sticks”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 22nd April 2014  Members of the Battersea Bartitsu Club work variations on the canonical set-play “A safe way for one man to disable another when both are equally well armed with sticks” (shown below).

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A 1960s Survival (or Revival?) of Bartitsu Stickfighting

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 27th July 2015 We’re pleased to present this short interview with author Nigel Gordon, who reports that he studied Bartitsu stick fighting as a young teenager in Wednesbury, Staffordshire, UK during the early … Continue reading

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The Missing Link Between Vigny and Lang Finally Revealed!

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 2nd December 2017 Indian Police Superintendant Herbert Gordon Lang’s book The “Walking Stick” Method of Self-Defence (1923) is one of the seminal documents of the modern Vigny/Bartitsu stick fighting revival.  Lang credited Pierre Vigny – … Continue reading

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“The Jiu-Jitsu Suffragette” on “The One Show”: BBC 1 Monday May 12

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 9th May 2014 Bartitsu instructor James Garvey and historian Emelyne Godfrey appear on screen and instructor Tony Wolf served as a consultant for this One Show presentation on the life of Edith Garrud, the pioneering female martial arts instructor who trained … Continue reading

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“Ju-ji-tsu” at Aldershot (April, 1905)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 13th May 2014 This illustration by artist L. Daviel represents a jujitsu exhibition by former Bartitsu Club instructor Sadakazu Uyenishi at the Public Schools Gymnasium, Aldershot. It’s difficult to parse exactly which technique the … Continue reading

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