Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 20th September 2008
A new 6.5 minute mini-documentary on the history and mixed fortunes of Bartitsu, from E.W. Barton-Wright’s training in Japan in the late 1800s to the modern Bartitsu revival.
Originally posted on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 25th September 2008
This footage was recorded at the International Swordfighting and Martial Arts Conference in Michigan, USA, between July 12-15, 2007. It features a series of mostly canonical Bartitsu unarmed combat and cane demonstrations by myself, with Kirk Lawson assisting.
The theme of the seminar was to use a small selection of canonical and some neo-Bartitsu techniques and sequences to explore two major principles:
1) alignment control, or using your own weight and skeletal structure to disrupt the opponent’s balance and 2) initiative control, either by inviting a particular attack or by executing a pre-emptive attack to control the opponent’s options and movement.
Thus, we were primarily using these sequences as academic examples of certain technical and tactical options, rather than as self defence or competition sequences per se.
The defence between 00.56 and 01.00 is a neo-Bartitsu improvisation combining a number of techniques (palm-heels, a trachea grab, low stamping kick etc.) to reinforce the theme of controlling the opponent’s balance and skeletal alignment.
Thanks to Bartitsu Society member Chris Amendola for editing the footage.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 27th October 2008
Next weekend James Marwood will be teaching a short Bartitsu class at the Swordfish event in Gothenburg. There’s a fair bit of interest, including this (translated) quote from a Swedish MMA magazine:
Bartitsu is particularly exciting, because had it not been for the books about Sherlock Holmes, we would most likely not know anything about the first time western martial arts where mixed with Japanese jiu-jiutsu,” explains, Annika Corneliusson, head of GHFS.
Sherlock Holmes and the suffragettes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle mentions “Baritsu” in one of his books, when the famous detective tells of his knowledge in self defense. Bartitsu, which is the real name, was created as a hybrid between jiu-jiutsu, western wrestling, boxing, savate (French kickboxing) and cane fighting by the English engineer Edward William Barton-Wright, who had spent a few years working with railways in Japan. Now these techniques are taught for the first time in Sweden by self defence instructor James Marwood from London, UK.
“This is actually a very important part of the European history, not just because of Sherlock Holmes, but also because the suffragette movement trained Bartitsu to be able to defend themselves against attacks by the police,” says Annika Corneliusson.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Wednesday, 5th November 2008
Popular science fiction author Neal Stephenson’s comments on Bartitsu, from a recent interview with the UK Daily Telegraph:
“So we’d mostly been doing longsword, in my little group,” says Stephenson. Ropes of muscle on his forearms attest to this, as do the pictures online of a Stephenson-designed spring-loaded practice sword that flexes on impact to soften a blow. “But we became interested in cane-fighting, which was taught in London a hundred years ago or so as part of this school of Bartitsu, founded by EW Barton-Wright, a railway engineer who’d picked up ju-jitsu in Japan. And he brought in a Swiss guy called Vigny who’d taken informal methods of walking-stick-fu and codified them into a system called la canne: he taught the part of the curriculum which involved fighting with walking sticks.”
No way, I say.
“Yeah. There’s a whole curriculum over fighting with bicycles. Pictures of an Edwardian lady in a floor-length dress and a huge hat with flowers, riding primly down a country lane, and when a ruffian comes out she uses some trick with the bicycle to flatten him and rides off. It’s great stuff. The bicycles we’re not sure how to approach, but we’ve created a little assembly line to make rattan canes, with a knob on the end. But there’s, you know, how to use a bicycle pump as a weapon. How to defend yourself with a parasol. Crazy.”
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Wednesday, 5th November 2008
Congratulations to Bartitsu Society member Anton Krause, whose introductory article on Bartitsu is featured as the cover story of the Autumn 2008 issue of “the Chap” magazine.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 9th November 2008
November 8th marks the 148th anniversary of the birth of E.W. Barton-Wright, the founder of Bartitsu. He was born in Bangalore, India in the year 1860, the son of William Barton Wright, locomotive Superintendant of Madras Railways, and Janet Wright.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 23rd January 2009
A Bartitsu demonstration was presented recently at the Frazier International History Museum (829 West Main Street, Louisville, Kentucky, USA). Based on a format developed for a similar demonstration by members of the British Royal Armouries interpretation team in 2001, the Frazier demo. was performed by actors playing the roles of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 23rd January 2009
This image from the upcoming Sherlock Holmes movie shows a bloodied Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr.) standing in what may be a dog-fighting arena. Bare-knuckle boxing, perhaps?
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 29th January 2009
As an experienced stick fighter, boxer and expert in “baritsu”, Sherlock Holmes came close to E.W. Barton-Wright’s ideal of Bartitsu. Here’s a selection of fight sequences from the classic 1984 – 1994 Granada Television series The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes, starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes:
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 17th March 2009
Scott Brown, a swordsmanship instructor in Houston recently met up with the Bartitsu Society’s Chris Amendola, and provided this report
Through recommendations from James Marwood and Alex Kiermeyer I recently made contact with a local Gentleman here in the Houston area named Chris Amendola, a Bartitsu specialist with a mentionable Eastern martial arts background.
Chris was kind enough to come by the training hall yesterday and offer an introductory workshop and lecture on E.W. Barton Wrights ‘mixed martial arts’ self defence system. I am extremely happy to report that he did a very fine job of not only giving a fairly thorough, if concise, overview of the system but also accommodating to the significantly wide variety of skill levels of the attending participants. While he did discuss some of the jujitsu elements of Bartitsu he was kind enough to focus the workshop on the Vigny cane aspects, covering a classification of techniques he termed “Guard by Distance”, making special emphasis on the very interesting Bartitsu ‘hanging guard’ (my term). Chris did a great job of keeping the class interesting and moving along as he demonstrated what I would consider to be a graspable number of defensive and offensive techniques, variations, and a number of counters to these. Personally, I was exceptionally pleased that he was able to take a number of our more experienced fencers out of their comfort zone by emphasizing Bartitsu’s rather unique ‘inverted overhand strike’ (my term) which is executed with some very interesting voiding footwork (nearly a demi-volta of sorts).
I am also happy to report that not only does Chris have a good ability to identify context and circumstance but also how they very importantly relate to fencing/fighting. He very capably demonstrated a number of tactical based decision making scenarios and almost nonchalantly discussed how they interplay with his interpretations of the plays in the Bartitsu system. I confess this was a pleasant surprise and excited me to know that such an informed and talented fellow is very nearly here in my own back yard. Additionally, he did a great job of being honest when he wasn’t sure about something when subjected to the customary grueling questions put forth by some of our gang and very admirably put serious thought into his responses, producing viable and coherent arguments only moments later. Very respectable in my book.
On the practical side, Chris was not only willing to fence but eager as anyone I’ve met and he further impressed me by not only wishing to fence using his Vigny, Cunningham and, I think, Lang cane understandings but also asked to fence against both the longsword and sword and buckler. Obviously, these are fencing systems that were never meant or designed to face each other and that only speaks to Chris’ good HEMA attitude. We also indulged him by playing at baton vs. baton with he and I going extra rounds we were having so much fun! The best part is Chris clearly is a man of mentionable skill, tactical understanding, and the ability to adapt. His unfamiliar, to us, methods definitely presented our gang with some new challenges and I suspect that he in turn found a few (but hopefully exciting) hurdles from our crowd. Bruises were shared all round, as it should be! Chris has a unique over/under/over strike combination that is faster than anyone I’ve yet to meet in a one handed weapon and he has a very dynamic and mobile style of fencing. He also put his money where his mouth is by capably demonstrating the unique ‘inverted overhand’ strike when fencing which was particularly fun to observe in addition to presenting some interesting challenges.
In short, it is my opinion that Chris Amendola is an excellent representative for Bartitsu as a functioning martial art. I think he poses great potential for growing this art, has a great attitude towards sharing, exchanging, training, and HEMA in general. And on top of it all, he’s a heck of a nice guy. If you get the chance, don’t miss an opportunity to train with Chris! I’m certainly looking forward to working with him in the future.