Author Archives: BartitsuSociety

Bartitsu Home-Training Tip: Indian Clubs Make Great Cane Substitutes

With group classes off the table until further notice, martial arts practitioners are switching en masse to home- and self-training. A handy tip for Bartitsu practitioners is to use an Indian clubs as a substitute for the Vigny cane, whose … Continue reading

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Fisticuffs!

Instructor Alex Kiermayer strikes a pugilistic pose during a recent seminar in Germany.

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“How to Defend Yourself” (Popular Mechanics, November 1926)

During the late 19th century, newspaper and magazine articles tended to skirt the subject of practical self-defence. The popularity of feature articles on that subject was spurred by Edward Barton-Wright’s Bartitsu series for Pearson’s Magazine in 1898-99 and continued through … Continue reading

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“Gouged Eyes and Chawed Ears” – the History and Folklore of Rough-and-Tumble Fighting via the Works of Robert E. Howard

The once-celebrated and now little-known “manly art” of rough-and-tumble fighting, a.k.a. “gouge fighting”, is explained in this video by pulp fiction scholar Jeffrey Shanks. If you’re intrigued to learn more about rough-and-tumble, in purported fact as well as fiction, be … Continue reading

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In Memoriam: Honor Blackman (22 August 1925 – 6 April 2020)

English actress and self-defence advocate Honor Blackman has died at the age of 94 years. After studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Blackman landed small feature film and television parts until her 1962 breakout role as Cathy … Continue reading

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“I Charged Like a Bull” – Australian Writer/Composer Kenneth Duffield Recalls Wrestling with Yukio Tani

During early-mid 1902 the Bartitsu Club instructors embarked on a largely successful exhibition tour that was to prove to be their “last hurrah” as a collective unit. Their venues included the Oxford Town Hall, Cambridge University, the Shoreditch Army Camp, … Continue reading

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A Review of “Bartitsu: Historical Self-Defence with a Walking Stick”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 5th January 2019 Here follows a review of the new English-language edition of the instructional DVD Bartitsu: Historical Self-Defence with a Walking Stick According to Pierre Vigny, which was originally released with German-language … Continue reading

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“At Them, Girls!” How the Amazon Defence Corps Trained to Take on Nazi Invaders

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 17th June 2017 During the fraught summer of 1940, the people of England were bracing themselves for a seemingly inevitable invasion by the German army.  While politicians dithered over whether women should … Continue reading

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“Guards which are not at all like the guards taught in schools (…)”

In this video, instructor Argent Bracci demonstrates some examples of destructive elbow guards applied to the noble art of fisticuffs: As Edward Barton-Wright noted in the 1901 article Bartitsu: Its Exponent Interviewed, orthodox boxing/savate defences – as typically taught to middle-class … Continue reading

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Percy Longhurst Takes On Yukio Tani (September 11, 1901)

Despite considerable popular interest in the jiujitsu exhibitions of Yukio Tani and Sadakazu Uyenishi during 1901, many critics declared that they would withhold their judgement until they’d seen the Japanese style in earnest action against a European champion or two. … Continue reading

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