Category Archives: Jiujitsu

“Sherlock Holmes and Bartitsu” (Part One)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 28th August 2010 The Bartitsu Society is privileged to be able to host this memoir by Michael Bertram Wooster, the grandson of the late Sir Henry St John Merrivale, 9th Baronet (1871-1965). … Continue reading

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“Sherlock Holmes and Bartitsu” (Part Two)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 28th August 2010 The second chapter of Michael Bertram Wooster’s extraordinary memoir details the collaboration between consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and Bartitsu founder E.W. Barton-Wright, including samples of their detailed technical correspondence. … Continue reading

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“Les Secrets du Jiu-Jitsu” (1906) Online

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 14th January 2018 A scan of Ernest Regnier’s instruction manual Les Secrets du Jiu-Jitsu (1906) is now available online via this link. Regnier was a talented but down-on-his-luck Parisian wrestler until he was sponsored by … 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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Yukio Tani vs. the Masked Wrestler (April, 1909)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 10th November 2018 Still popular today in Mexican and Japanese pro-wrestling circles, the “masked wrestler” gimmick originated in Paris during the year 1867.  The original “Lutteur Masqué” was rumoured to be an … Continue reading

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“Ju-Jitsu Vs. Boxing”: Yukio Tani takes on “Young Joseph” (From The Sporting Life, 13 April 1908)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on February 10th, 2017 In a 1950 interview conducted by jiujitsu sensei Gunji Koizumi, Bartitsu founder E.W. Barton-Wright reminisced about trying to teach Yukio Tani to box, noting that Tani had “no aptitude for … Continue reading

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Inside Edith Garrud’s dojo (1910-11)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 1st January 2017 By March of 1910,  jiujitsu instructor Edith Garrud was becoming increasingly involved with the radical women’s rights movement, teaching her “Suffragettes Self-Defence” classes at Leighton Lodge in Edwardes Square, Kensington and performing politically … Continue reading

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The “Great Anglo-Japanese Tournament” at the Adelphi Theatre in Liverpool

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on November 6th, 2018 The “last hurrah” of the Bartitsu Club as a corporate entity was the ambitious and largely successful “Great Anglo-Japanese Tournament” tour during early-mid 1902.   We’ve previously detailed these provincial Bartitsu … Continue reading

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“Should an Assailant Strike at Your Wind or Heart with His Right Fist”: an Anomalous Canonical Bartitsu Technique Illustrated

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 26th November 2016 In April of 2010 the Bartitsu Society discovered a “new” entry into canonical Bartitsu unarmed combat.  This self defence kata or sequence appeared as part of a reprint of E.W. … Continue reading

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The Annotated “Bartitsu: Its Exponent Interviewed” (1901)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 31st January 2019 The following interview with Bartitsu founder E.W. Barton-Wright first appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette of 5 September 1901, during the height of the Bartitsu Club era.  It was found … Continue reading

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