Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 30th May 2011
An interesting snippet from a review of one of E.W. Barton-Wright’s Bartitsu exhibitions at London’s Tivoli Theatre during August 1901.
After a jiujitsu demonstration …
… Mr Barton-Wright, to whose initiative the present interesting exhibition in town is due, shows by his pupils the value of the ordinary walking-stick as a means of self defence against the man who attacks with any weapon other than a firearm. The ordinary Malacca cane, quite unused to responsibilities of any sort, becomes suddenly endowed with a most valuable gift, and in the grip of a well-trained man, saves his head and hands from a weapon of tenfold weight. It is not too much to say that no man can afford to neglect such a simple precaution against sudden attack …
– The Music Hall and Theatre Review, 23 August, 1901
This is an extremely rare, if not unique, account of Edward Barton-Wright – rather than Pierre Vigny – demonstrating walking stick self-defence during the Bartitsu Club era.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 29th May 2011
Bartitsu enthusiast Goran Dimic recently delivered an illustrated lecture/demonstration on Bartitsu for the Parni Zakon steampunk conference in Zagreb, Croatia.
The lecture included information on the origins and nature of Bartitsu and the life and times of founder E.W. Barton-Wright. Goran then demonstrated some basic fisticuffs, low kicks, a jiujitsu escort hold and some cane techniques.
The audience was enthusiastic and their response bodes well for the establishment of a Bartitsu study group in Croatia.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 12th May 2011
Instructor Allen Reed will be teaching Bartitsu classes at the 1900 America Chautauqua. The Chautauqua (June 11-12, Midway Village Museum, Rockford, IL) is set during the year 1900 and will offer numerous educational and entertainment events from that period.
Alongside 1900-era celebrities such as Mark Twain, Buffalo Bill Cody and Annie Oakley, Allen (as a “Professor of Antagonistics” recently returned from studies at the Bartitsu Club in London) will teach the skills of pugilism and self defence with a walking stick:
Prof. Reed is honored to be the first American to bring this new art back to his students in the United States. Prof. Reed will be offering two classes, one in pugilism and one on cane fighting for those attending this year’s Chautauqua. The class on pugilism will help introduce this manly art to all comers. The class on M. Vigny’s cane fighting system will teach how a common walking stick, cane or umbrella can be used for self defense. A few canes and sticks will be available from the instructor, but interested guests are encouraged to provide their own cane or umbrella. Ladies are also encouraged to attend. Classes offered both days of the Chautauqua.
Posted inCanonical Bartitsu, Exhibitions|Comments Off on Bartitsu Classes at the 1900 America Chautauqua (Rockford, IL)
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 10th May 2011
Instructor Tony Wolf will be teaching two intermediate/advanced level Bartitsu sessions at the Western Martial Arts Weekend conference in Racine, Wisconsin, USA. The conference runs between September 15-18.
The WMAW is the premiere event of its type in the USA, attracting hundreds of participants for an intensive four day series of Western martial arts classes, lectures and seminars. It is held at the beautiful DeKoven Center, a 19th century university campus that has been converted into a conference and retreat center.
The Bartitsu sessions include:
Bartitsu: The Lost Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes
Instructor: Tony Wolf Class Category: Close Quarters Combat Class Length: 3 hrs Experience Level: Intermediate to Advanced Intensity Level: Moderate Pre-Requisites: None Required Equipment: A sturdy crook-handled walking stick or 36 inch dowel with any edges smoothed away; fencing mask or similar face/head protection.
In the year 1899, Edward William Barton-Wright founded Bartitsu as a process of cross-training between walking stick fighting, boxing, savate and jiujitsu. It was the first example of an eclectic self-defence system blending Asian and European combat styles, intended to beat hooligans and street gangsters at their own game.
Barton-Wright defined the principles of Bartitsu as:
(1) to disturb the equilibrium of your assailant; (2) to surprise him before he has time to regain his balance and use his strength; (3) if necessary to subject the joints of any part of his body … to strains which they are anatomically and mechanically unable to resist.
He also noted that:
“It is quite unnecessary to try and get your opponent in any particular position, as the system embraces every possible eventuality, and your defence and counter attack must be entirely based upon the tactics of your opponent.”
Drawing from a selection of classical Bartitsu unarmed and walking-stick fighting set-plays, we will take up the challenge implied by Barton-Wright’s precepts of adaptability and improvisation, thereby continuing the “mixed martial arts” experiment that he began in late Victorian London.
“Belabour him as you see fit”: Bartitsu combat improvisation
Instructor: Tony Wolf Class Category: Close Quarters Combat Class Length: 1 hr 30 min Experience Level: Intermediate to Advanced Intensity Level: Moderate to High Pre-Requisites: Familiarity with the cane and unarmed sub-systems of Bartitsu. Required Equipment: A sturdy crook-handled walking stick or 36 inch dowel with any edges smoothed away; fencing mask or similar face/head protection.
This class is a development of the material introduced in the “Bartitsu: The Lost Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes” intensive, dealing more specifically with the process of combining the various sub-systems of Bartitsu. We will practice spontaneity drills designed to “twist” the canonical self defense sequences as a bridge between pre-arranged set-plays and free bouting.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 9th May 2011
Thanks to The Convention Fans Blog for this picture and accompanying report on San Francisco-based Bartitsu instructor Tom Badillo’s demo./class at the recent Gaslight Gathering event in San Diego.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 6th May 2011
“I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu …”
– Sherlock Holmes on his defeat of Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls
While the real martial art of Bartitsu was almost completely forgotten throughout the 20th century, this immortal line penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle provided the vital clue that led to its modern revival.
The Undershaw Preservation Trust has designated May 14th as Worldwide Undershaw Preservation Day. Supporters of the plan to save and restore Doyle’s former residence, where he wrote The Return of Sherlock Holmes and the lines about Holmes’ use of “baritsu” against Moriarty, are encouraged to wear something Sherlockian on that day and to help promote the preservation project.
All details, including video, historical images, essays and messages of support are available at the Preservation Trust’s website.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 30th April 2011
An excerpt from an article published in the Vancouver Sun of January 21st, 1902:
At the exhibition given at the “Bartitsu” School of Arms in London recently some remarkable feats were performed by the Japanese experts. In wrestling with an English wrestler the Japanese caught his opponent’s wrist and, by turning around so that his opponent’s arm rested on his shoulder, he threw the Englishman over his head, using his opponent’s arm as a lever.
Although in jujutsu proper no weapons are used, the methods of the art may be applied to the use of different weapons, including cudgels, swords, daggers and other instruments. At the exhibition in London the Japanese experts not only showed their wonderful skill in wrestling but also in defense against attacks with walking sticks and clubs.
A surprising feature of the exhibition was that (performed by) one of the Japanese experts, who in some mysterious manner taught by his art resisted strong pressure on his throat. A rod was placed across the throat of one of the men, who was lying upon the floor; and each end of the rod was pressed down by the combined weight of two men. How the Japanese managed to escape being strangled is a puzzle, but he actually resisted or evaded the pressure in some way and was not injured.
The exhibition in London was one of the first of its kind ever given outside of Japan.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 26th April 2011
Bartitsu instructor Stefan Dieke was recently interviewed by reporter Nico Rau for Germany’s DRadio Wissen. The item included a discussion of the origins, downfall and modern revival of the “gentlemanly art of self defence”, with the obligatory reference to Sherlock Holmes’ “baritsu”.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 25th April 2011
Reviews are coming in for the new documentary (available here) and they are good …
Bartitsu: The Lost Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes reveals an exciting world of Victorian ruffians, garroting panics, militant suffragettes, and physical culture, as well as the colorful life of Bartitsu’s founder Edward Barton-Wright … music by the steampunk band Abney Park creates a moody atmosphere of Victorian danger, excitement, and heroics. Through interviews, re-enactment, archival images, and contemporary footage of neo-Bartitsu students, the “lost” martial art is brought to life.
Here’s the problem – what to do when you love a good punch up, but public brawling is incompatible with your image as an amenable, if damp-stained, man of letters? The answer is “Bartitsu,” a nineteenth-century martial art developed specifically to transform the upright classes into killing machines, and whose unusual history has been revealed in an excellent new documentary …
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 25th April 2011
Thanks to Chris Amendola for tracking down this review of a circa January 1902 Bartitsu exhibition in Oxford, U.K. It appears that Barton-Wright also toured his “troupe” to Cambridge University during this period.
Though it was only a small audience which gathered at the Town Hall on Tuesday last week to see the exhibition of the Bartitsu school of self-defence, those who were present had no reason to regret having come. The feats of the two Japanese champions were really somewhat extraordinary, and we should not like to have to hazard a guess as to the secret of their skill; possibly it may have been something in the way of disposal of force, some system of balance. That it was perfectly genuine was soon discovered by those who tried to test it; that it was not a matter of mere strength was clear from their bouts with Mr. Whittall of New College, who, though obviously the stronger man, was overcome by the Japanese in the end. Not the least remarkable of their exploits was the way in which they managed to avoid getting damaged in falls in which it looked as if they must be killed, or at the least knocked senseless. Altogether it was a very interesting performance.
