Category Archives: Humour

“Studies in Savate” (Sunday Oregonian, May 20, 1900)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on June 3rd, 2017

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“The Duel with the Fashionable Pointed Shoes” (Circa 1885)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 20th October 2018

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“Police Jiujitsu at the Crystal Palace” (1905)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Wednesday, 31st January 2018 In this cartoon from the Penny Illustrated Paper of March 4, 1905, the illustrator imagines a jiujitsu contest between two constables at a police fete held at the famed Crystal Palace … Continue reading

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Bartitsu Kicks Posterior in FX’s “The League”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 19th September 2015 Bartitsu has been both parodied and showcased on the FX Network’s popular comedy series, The League, which concerns the misadventures of a group of fantasy football league players. In the recent episode … Continue reading

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“… the misspelled wrestle Doyle called baritsu”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on May 1st, 2017 In response to the newest and most action-packed Sherlock adventure, The Six Thatchers, TV critic Ralph Jones wrote an opinion piece titled “Sherlock is slowly and perversely morphing into Bond. This … Continue reading

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“A New Weapon: The Torpedo Umbrella” (New York Times, 1876)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 5th May 2014 A fanciful suggestion from the New York Times, proposing one way in which the humble brolly might be augmented for use as an implement of self-defence: It is a … Continue reading

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“A New Uniform Inspired by Uko-Tani”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 21st January 2018 The notion of London bobbies studying the newfangled Japanese art of self-defence clearly intrigued Edwardian cartoonists.  The Penny Illustrated Paper of March 4, 1905 imagined that a new police uniform inspired … Continue reading

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Velo-Boxe (“Bike-Boxing”) Cartoons by Marius Rossillon

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 10th January 2019 The French painter and cartoonist Marius Rossillon (1867-1946), under the pseudonym “O’Galop”, invents a bizarre new hybrid combat sport in this 1895 sketch series, which originally appeared in Le Rire. … Continue reading

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Keeping a Safe Distance in Victorian London

The mid-19th century moral panic over garroting gangs (urban street muggers) reached its absurdist conclusion in this Punch Magazine cartoon, suggesting the invention of a reinforced hoop skirt frame to keep garroters at a safe distance. Sadly, while scholars agree … Continue reading

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“A Jujitsuous Hint” (Punch Magazine, 1905)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 18th July 2011

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