Category Archives: Jiujitsu

“Sports de Defense” Postcards on Video

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Wednesday, 31st January 2018 Thanks to Rodney Bennett for sourcing and compiling this video, which consists of a series of self-defence postcards featuring French jiujitsu pioneer Ernest Regnier (a.k.a. “Re-Nie”). The caption of postcard … Continue reading

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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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“Fiendish Science”: a Pearson’s Magazine Editor Recalls His First Encounter with E.W. Barton-Wright

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Wednesday, 31st January 2018 When E.W. Barton-Wright returned to England in 1898, after a three-year sojourn in Japan, he lost little time in starting to promote the then-almost totally unknown martial art of … Continue reading

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“The Eight Olympians”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 15th January 2018 By 1907 the art of jiujitsu was becoming thoroughly integrated into English popular culture. It had been written into plays and novels and was the subject of greeting cards, … Continue reading

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“Women and Self-Protection” (1922)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Wednesday, 6th December 2017 This article from the Pall Mall Gazette of March 17, 1922 offers self-defence advice according to the system of Professor Padian, who is described as “the Master at Arms … Continue reading

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“Self Defence for Women” by Nohata Showa (1914) Now Translated and Re-Published

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on June 3rd, 2017 Although Emily Diana Watts’ Fine Art of Jujutsu was first published in 1906, Self Defense for Women (1914) may well have been the first booklet written by a female author to specifically deal with jujutsu … Continue reading

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“Assault-at-Arms at the Bartitsu School” (1901)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 7th February 2017 An advertisement in the Sporting Times, promoting one of the assault-at-arms exhibitions staged at the Bartitsu Club in Shaftesbury Avenue.

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“The Bartitsu School of Arms and Physical Culture” (Monday, 25 November 1901)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 3rd February 2017 The following article, originally published in The Sporting Life, offers fresh details on the multi-style assault-at-arms staged at the London Bartitsu Club during late November of 1901. Several references may … Continue reading

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“Gaby Deslys as a Jiu-jitsu Artist” (1907)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 21st November 2016 French music hall star Gaby Deslys – famous for her “Jiujitsu Waltz” – is shown throwing Sorekichi Eida in this 1907 publicity photo. Note that the term “Jap” held no pejorative meaning … Continue reading

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Miss Phoebe Roberts, “Champion Lady Ju-Jitsu Wrestler of the World”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 15th April 2017 Alongside Edith Garrud and Emily Diana Watts, Phoebe Roberts (1887-1955) must be accounted as one of the first female jiujitsu instructors in the Western world.  She was certainly the youngest; Miss Roberts … Continue reading

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