Author Archives: BartitsuSociety

“A man without a stick rushes at you with his fist”: an Interpretation of Captain Laing’s Second Bartitsu Set-Play

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 18th October 2016 Captain F.C. Laing of the 12th Bengal Infantry (Kelat-I-Ghilzai Regiment) spent several months of intensive training at the London Bartitsu Club.  He then produced a uniquely useful article, The “Bartitsu” Method … Continue reading

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“Attacked by a man with a stick in his hand”: an Interpretation of Captain Laing’s First Bartitsu Set-Play

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 20th October 2016 Captain F.C. Laing’s 1902 article The ‘Bartitsu’ Method of Self Defence is an often-neglected resource for canonical Bartitsu stick training. As with all choreographed set-plays, Laing’s “examples” are best approached as formalised … Continue reading

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Bartitsu in the Sporting Times (March-April 1899)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 28th October 2016 Note – The March, 1899 antagonistics exhibition at the London Bath Club was widely reported upon in the media.  Most accounts agree that the advertised Bartitsu contest between E.W. … Continue reading

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“How To Meet Hooligans” (London Daily News – Friday 23 August 1901)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 28th October 2016 The Tokio and Osaka professors of the Japanese art of self-protection are in England, ready, under guidance of Mr. Barton-Wright, not only to display their skill, but to meet any … Continue reading

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“Engaging Toughs” – The Bartitsu Sparring Video Competition

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 1st November 2016 … by engaging toughs I trained myself until I was satisfied in practical application. –  E.W. Barton-Wright, 1950 Announcing the first international Bartitsu sparring video competition, for prizes of up … Continue reading

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“The cumbersome boxing glove superseded” (Punch Magazine, September 4, 1869)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 6th November 2016 Cartoonist George du Maurier offers a helpful suggestion for boxers.  The caption reads: Sparring without pain or loss of temper – the cumbersome boxing-glove superseded. For more on this topic, see The … Continue reading

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“We don’t strictly train in Bartitsu – can we still enter the sparring video contest?”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 8th November 2016 Feedback in the wake of our announcement of the international Bartitsu sparring video contest has included this question, both from groups who practice their own forms of neo-Bartitsu and from groups … Continue reading

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The Bartitsu Pronunciation Guide

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 10th November 2016 Because Bartitsu is a culturally eclectic, Edwardian-era self defence system, revivalists are faced with a variety of words that have fallen out of fashion over the past century or simply … Continue reading

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Bartitsu Gift Ideas

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 17th December 2016 The Bartitsu Compendium, Volume 1: History and the Canonical Syllabus (2005) and The Bartitsu Compendium Volume II: Antagonistics (2008) Compiled by members of the Bartitsu Society, volumes 1 and 2 of the … Continue reading

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“As Active as a Wild Cat” (Dublin Daily Express – 17 March, 1899)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 19th December 2016 “Bartitsu.”  We have not had time to visit the National Library or T.C.D. in order to look up the derivation of this uncanny word, but we are assured that … Continue reading

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