The original Bartitsu Society website – www.bartitsu.org – was established by James Marwood in October of 2008, and that site served as the premiere online resource for the contemporary Bartitsu revival until it suffered a catastrophic technical failure in April of 2019.
The recovery, restoration and reconstruction process was a laborious task, but by January of 2021 the great majority of the items posted on Bartitsu.org between 2008-2019, including all of the significant technical and historical articles, had been reconstituted at www.bartitsusociety.com.
During the reconstruction the archived posts unavoidably became chronologically disordered and most of them now begin with a note recording the date when they were originally posted.
This event highlighted the fragility of electronic media and inspired the production of a third volume of the Bartitsu Compendium, in order to further preserve the best of the research presented here since the publication of the second volume in 2008. The Bartitsu Compendium, Volume III was published in December of 2022.
We hope you enjoy the Bartitsu Society website 2.0!
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At that time I was developing a strong interest in the “antagonistics” of the Victorian and Edwardian periods, and was pleased to accept Joe’s offer to edit a new EJMAS sub-journal dedicated to that subject. I’d wanted to call it the Journal of Antagonistics, which Joe liked but worried that the term was too obscure for general readers, so we settled on the tongue-in-cheek “Journal of Manly Arts”. Between JManly and the other EJMAS Journals, we were able to begin to introduce the story of Edward Barton-Wright’s New Art of Self Defence to an international audience via the new media of the Internet.
I remember that when our republication of the “Self -Defence with a Walking Stick” articles went the early-2000s version of viral, Joe was amused to see images of Barton-Wright and Vigny reproduced – often with humorous captions and other alterations – on other sites, by people who couldn’t quite bring themselves to believe that this was a thing that had actually happened in history.
Also germane to Bartitsu studies, circa 2007-8 Joe was instrumental, along with myself and Japan-based researcher Lance Gatling, in rediscovering the legacy of the then-little-known Handa dojo of Osaka, whose innovative approach to newaza (mat-wrestling) had a significant impact upon Bartitsu and then the wider field of submission wrestling throughout the world.
It was always a pleasure to correspond and otherwise work with Joe, who combined an old-school journalistic sensibility with a Sherlockian curiosity about little-known and little-appreciated aspects of martial arts lore and history.
Our sympathy to his friends and family in this trying time.
Most of the current crop of AI-generated Bartitsu videos are takes on the real history, with lesser or greater degrees of success and accuracy. This “teaser trailer” stands out for imagining a dashing Bartitsu-trained hero, complete with nifty fight choreography and an AI’s idea of a theme song:
Meet The Minstrel … a charming gentleman, notorious ladies’ man, seasoned world traveler, and master of Bartitsu, the forgotten Victorian art of self-defense. On the misty streets of Victorian England, he moves through life with a melody on his lips, a twinkle in his eye, and an elegant walking stick at his side. The citizens greet him warmly, society’s most captivating women know his reputation, and London’s ruffians know better than to underestimate his impeccable manners.
But England is only the beginning. From the grand capitals of Europe to distant ports, ancient temples, desert kingdoms, and mysterious corners of the world, The Minstrel pursues adventure, romance, danger, and intrigue. Wherever trouble finds him, he answers with charm, courage, and the refined … but devastating … science of Bartitsu. A gentleman should always offer a courteous bow… even after winning the fight. Welcome to the world of THE MINSTREL.
We’re living in the future, ladies and gents. Things will only get stranger …
The latest installment of our very occasional but long-running “umbrella/cane fight scene” series takes us back to 1982. In this action-packed episode of CHiPs, reformed karate gang leader (which was a thing, but only sort of) Andy Macedon (Lewis Van Bergen) employs some deft cane techniques in assisting heroes Jon (Larry Wilcox) and Ponch (Eric Estrada) to take down a menacing gang led by Billy (Danny Bonaduce, of all people).
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A satirical response to the suffrajitsu phenomenon in this cartoon from the Dutch journal De rare Jacob (1910). The caption translates as “The suffragettes haven’t been at all shy about using their feet for jiu-jitsu—rather like how the ‘weaker,’ more modest ladies once took to bicycling?!”
