Category Archives: Exhibitions

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

Posted on February 16, 2026 by BartitsuSociety

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”

Yuki Tani watches catch-as-catch-can wrestling in 1926

Posted on February 21, 2025 by BartitsuSociety

A few seconds of footage of former Bartitsu Club instructor Yukio Tani watching a catch-as-catch-can wrestling championship in Finsbury Park, Middlesex. Tani would have been around 49 years old at the time this film was shot; about a decade later … Continue reading →

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Some “new” and unusual snippets of Bartitsu history

Posted on November 25, 2023 by BartitsuSociety

According to an item in the Morning Leader of Tuesday, 29 November 1898, the entertainments for an upcoming charity bazaar were scheduled to include: Mr. E. W. Barton- Wright (who) will on Friday and Saturday give a demonstration of Bartitsu, … Continue reading →

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E.W. Barton-Wright’s Bartitsu in the Sherlock Holmes Collection

Posted on June 17, 2021 by BartitsuSociety

Originally posted on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 30th June 2012 On Thursday, June 28th, 2012 a wall display commemorating Bartitsu founder E.W. Barton-Wright was unveiled as part of the Sherlock Holmes Collection at Marylebone Library in London. The display consists of … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Baritsu, E. W. Barton-Wright, Exhibitions, Fiction, Pop-culture, Sherlock Holmes | Comments Off on E.W. Barton-Wright’s Bartitsu in the Sherlock Holmes Collection

More on the Bartitsu Club’s 1902 Exhibition at Oxford

Posted on May 31, 2021 by BartitsuSociety

Our 2017 article on the Bartitsu Club’s “grand tour” of exhibitions during early-mid 1902 included several detailed reports on the event staged at the Oxford Town Hall. One of those reports offered the intriguing detail that a Mr. Whittle, who … Continue reading →

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Taro Miyake Exhibits Jujutsu vs. Boxing (1909)

Posted on March 26, 2021 by BartitsuSociety

Although it was fairly common for Japanese jujutsuka to engage with Western boxers on the stages of Edwardian London’s music halls, the boxers normally simply wrestled according to jujutsu rules. Occasionally, however, a true mixed-styles bout did take place, as … Continue reading →

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“In the Ju Jitsu Hall” (1911)

Posted on March 24, 2021 by BartitsuSociety

These cartoons from the June 17, 1911 issue of the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News illustrate Japanese martial arts displays in the “Ju Jitsu Hall” of London’s Coronation Exhibition. The same venue had also hosted martial arts displays about a … Continue reading →

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Tomoenage at the Bath Club (1899)

Posted on February 17, 2021 by BartitsuSociety

E.W. Barton-Wright demonstrates the tomoenage (stomach throw) during one of his first major Bartitsu exhibitions, held at the famous Bath Club in London. This illustration has been adapted from the original, which appeared in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News … Continue reading →

Posted in Canonical Bartitsu, E. W. Barton-Wright, Edwardiana, Exhibitions, Jiujitsu | Comments Off on Tomoenage at the Bath Club (1899)

Bartitsu demo. at the Frazier Museum

Posted on December 29, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 23rd January 2009 A Bartitsu demonstration was presented recently at the Frazier International History Museum (829 West Main Street, Louisville, Kentucky, USA).  Based on a format developed for a similar demonstration by members of … Continue reading →

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Victorian Cane Fighting Demo at the San Francisco Dickens Fair

Posted on December 29, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 27th December 2010 Thomas Badillo of the Botta Secreta historical martial arts club demonstrates a cane flow drill at the 32nd annual Great Dickens Christmas Fair in San Francisco.

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