Author Archives: BartitsuSociety

“Vice, Crime and Poverty: How the Western Imagination Invented the Underworld”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 16th March 2019 This new book by French cultural historian Dominique Kalifa explores the notion of the criminal underworld in Western popular culture, including the infamous Parisian Apache and London hooligan phenomena that fed – and were fed … Continue reading

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“Professor Kano and His Judo School” (from “A Woman Alone in the Heart of Japan”, 1906)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 14th March 2019 Bartitsu founder Edward Barton-Wright spent three years, between roughly 1895-98, living in Kobe, Japan, where he worked as an antimony smelting specialist for E.H. Hunter and Company.  By his … Continue reading

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“Raku, the Japanese Wrestler” (1907)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 8th March 2019 Sadakazu Uyenishi was the last of four Japanese jujitsu instructors to be employed at the Bartitsu Club.  During 1901, Uyenishi frequently partnered Yukio Tani in Club demonstrations, alternated with Tani in … Continue reading

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“Japanese ‘Bartitsu’” (1901)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 7th March 2019 The author of this short critical article, first published in the Sheffield Evening Telegraph of 28 August 1901, jumps to several mistaken conclusions about Bartitsu, jiujitsu and Japanese wrestling as a general … Continue reading

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Bartitsu Instructor James Marwood Interviewed in “American Express Essentials”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 7th March 2019 Click here to read journalist Jessica Keller’s recent interview with Bartitsu instructor James Marwood for American Express Essentials Magazine: Q – What are a Bartitsu practitioner’s most trusty weapons or resources? … Continue reading

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Bartitsu Club Fencing Master – Captain Alfred Hutton (1903)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 28th February 2019 A newly-discovered photograph of Captain Alfred Hutton, who is now famed as a pioneer of historical European martial arts reconstruction and of the establishment of competitive fencing as an English … Continue reading

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“Actual Self-Defence” (from “The Complete Boxer”, 1914)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 21st February 2019 Some sound advice from author J.G. Bohun Lynch, on the subject of street self-defence particularly from the boxer’s point of view.  Mr. Lynch’s recommended defence against a kicking attack … Continue reading

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“Ring-Combat” – A Novel 1920s Wrestling Sport

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 2nd December 2017 In this ingenious and curious style of wrestling, athletes contend over the possession of a solid rubber ring, with the winner being the grappler who is able to wrest … Continue reading

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Martial Exotica: Kusarigamajutsu in London (1919-23)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 12th November 2017 Founded by Gunji Koizumi in 1918, the London Budokwai remains the oldest Japanese martial arts club in Europe.  Former Bartitsu Club instructor Yukio Tani taught there for many years, shaping the … Continue reading

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Extreme Stick Fighting

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 6th November 2017 Worth bearing in mind when one’s martial practice starts to become too academic; there is gently going through the motions, and then there is Extreme Stick Fighting (click here … Continue reading

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