Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 15th August 2009
Announcing the publication of a new book for teenage readers, or indeed for any reader interested in the true story of Edith Garrud, who taught jujutsu to the secret Bodyguard society of the English women’s suffrage movement.
Edith and her husband William were among the first generation of English jujutsu instructors, having learned the art from Bartitsu Club instructor Sadakazu Uyenishi and other notables.
The book details Edith Garrud’s life and career as a self defence instructor in Edwardian London and the adventures of the jujutsu-trained Bodyguard society in protecting their leaders from arrest and assault. My hope is that it will inspire some young people, especially girls, to stand up for what they believe in and enroll in martial arts training.
Suggested for ages 12 and older, includes 29 illustrations.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Wednesday, 19th August 2009
Bartitsu lessons will feature at the Hampton National Historic Site’s “Manly Arts” day (Maryland, USA). This event will showcase the range of martial arts and combat sports available to gentlemen of the 18th and 19th centuries.
With instructors including Steve Huff and Mark Donnelly, attendees will be in for a fun, educational day of “antagonistics”.
Posted inAntagonistics, Seminars|Comments Off on “Manly Arts Day” at Hampton Historic Site
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 7th September 2009
By Tony Wolf
I have just returned from a very busy two-week tour of Italy, teaching Bartitsu and stage combat master-classes and preparing for an exciting new project: a Bartitsu documentary!
I would like to begin by thanking my hosts, especially Bartitsu Italia and the Cletarte cultural organisation, for their tireless and expert support. From arranging hotel accommodation and sight-seeing expeditions to dinners and press conferences, they were a delight to work with and I hope to visit them again soon.
The three-day masterclass series in Rome was a great success, with a wonderfully enthusiastic body of students representing the gamut of martial arts and stage combat experience. It was held in a new (in parts, still under construction) sports and exercise facility in the heart of the city.
Day one was devoted to learning about the cultural history and basic principles of Bartitsu: the biomechanical and tactical precepts that underlie Barton-Wright’s fusion of boxing, jiujitsu, savate and stick fighting, and the process of applying neo-Bartitsu drills to many of Barton-Wright’s canonical self defence sequences.
The second day was largely given over to the application of Bartitsu to stage combat and stunt fighting, and day three was devoted to neo-Bartitsu as self defence. The Rome seminars generated nine hours of professionally shot high-def video footage.
The Greco Academy, Rome
When in Rome I did as some Roman do, being privileged to be able to visit the fencing school of Maestro Renzo Musumeci Greco, which has been run continually as a sala d’armi by members of the Maestro’s family since the 1870s.
Amantea, Calabria
After flying to the lovely resort town of Amantea in Calabria (Southern Italy), we spent an intensive three days filming re-enactments and other footage for the Bartitsu documentary, including (by special and unusual permission) some scenes at the Palazzo delle Clarisse.
Interview for Calabrian television
Priamar Fortress
The final stop was in Savona, where I adjudicated a stage combat and historical fencing tournament at the magnificent Priamar fortress and taught a four-hour Bartitsu seminar for tournament participants. Again, their enthusiasm (and good-natured tolerance for my feeble attempts at spoken Italian) was much appreciated.
Finally, notes of personal thanks to Ran, Aile, Rocco, Jerome, Paolo, Angelica, Filomena, Gaetano, Luca, Daniele, Alessandro, Michele and Giuseppe. Grazie mille.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 8th September 2009
A new article by John Reppion, “Baritsu, Bartitsu and the Jujutsuffragettes” is featured in the 6th issue of Steampunk Magazine.
Mr. Reppion’s article is an entertaining and informative look at Bartitsu history and links to the Sherlock Holmes adventures and the women’s suffrage movement in the early years of the 20th century – recommended reading.
Posted inPop-culture|Comments Off on Bartitsu: Steampunk Martial Art!
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 14th September 2009
Between September 9-13, the beautiful 19th century campus of the DeKoven Center (Racine, Wisconsin) was the venue for the 10th annual Western Martial Arts Weekend conference. This was the first year that Bartitsu was included in the WMAW lineup.
The conference was sold out some months in advance, having attracted a record-breaking 160 participants from 6 countries. As we enjoyed perfect weather every day, almost all of the classes took place under the oak trees on the DeKoven Center lawns, with 4 classes of (typically) 40 students each training in a panoply of Western martial arts disciplines. Students were able to choose classes from four “tracks” including Fundamentals, Medieval Martial Arts, Renaissance and Early Modern Martial Arts and Close-Quarters Combat.
The 3-hour Bartitsu seminar took place on the morning of Day 4 and began with a precis of the cultural history of Bartitsu. The three major “themes” of this seminar were initiative control via pre-emptive striking/feinting and invitation, alignment control via efficient biomechanics and the process of martial improvisation.
We began with a series of basic exercises in alignment – using one’s own posture and skeletal structure, represented as a triangle, to control a partner’s triangle to the point of imbalance. These exercises were then formalised into a selection of basic boxing and savate techniques and into some examples of canonical jiujitsu kata.
The neo-Bartitsu process of “twisting” canonical sequences into improvisational exercises was then applied to the kata, and subsequently to a series of Bartitsu stick fighting set-plays. Participants were challenged to spontaneously recover the initiative after “something goes wrong” with the set-play (for example, the opponent defeats a particular technique; how to flow with the disruption and re-establish control of the fight?)
I was very happy with the students’ progress and particularly enjoyed working with some fellow Bartitsu practitioners from clubs in Seattle and San Francisco, who also asked for an informal private lesson.
In all, WMAW 2009 bodes very well for the continued growth of interest and enthusiasm for Bartitsu in the wider Western martial arts community.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 4th October 2009
The new Bartitsu Newspaper Archive includes over two hundred pages from the Daily Mirror and Daily Express newspapers, mostly dating from the first years of the 20th century.
Many of the references are just snippets, but there are some more substantial articles in the archive as well.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 11th October 2009
Location shooting at the Reichenbach Falls
Further filming for the upcoming Bartitsu documentary took place recently in Switzerland, London and Northumberland. The Swiss shoot was managed by Ran A. Braun and Tony Wolf, while in London Wolf was ably assisted by Lawrence Carmichael.
Tony Wolf visits the Sherlock Holmes Museum in Meiringen, Switzerland
Interviews were held in London with Dr. Emelyne Godfrey, and in Northumberland with martial arts historians Harry Cook and Graham Noble.
Additional footage was shot in Shaftesbury Avenue, the location of the original Bartitsu Club; Kingston-on-Thames cemetery, the site of E.W. Barton-Wright’s grave; Leicester Square, outside the Empire Theatre where Barton-Wright held some of his early Bartitsu exhibitions, and other locations.
Host Tony Wolf in front of the Shaftesbury Avenue Best Western Hotel, which formerly housed the original Bartitsu Club.
Mystery novelist and longtime Bartitsu enthusiast Will Thomas during his interview for the upcoming Bartitsu documentary.
Will Thomas demonstrates a “bayonette” thrust with the umbrella for fight director and martial artist Erick Wolfe.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 30th October 2009
The Sherlock Holmes Handbook: the Methods and Mysteries of the World’s Greatest Detective is a new book in the “cleverly themed how-to” genre. Taking its inspiration from the adventures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic investigator, the book offers hints and tips on “How to Use Deductive Reasoning”, “How to Master a Dozen Disguises” and, of course, “How to Defend Yourself”.
The latter section includes a quick summary of Bartitsu lore, correctly identifying Holmes’ “baritsu” primarily with Japanese unarmed combat, although not clarifying that Bartitsu actually included boxing, savate, wrestling and stick fighting as well. However, further items in the self defence section refer to Holmes’ abilities as a boxer, fencer and singlestick fighter, and offer very basic instruction in each of these areas.
A great Christmas gift for Holmes/Bartitsu aficionados, and a great companion piece to “The Art of Manliness” (see previous post).
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 30th October 2009
Some scenes from the upcoming Bartitsu documentary, scheduled for release in early 2010. These shots are from a re-enactment of a Jiujitsuffragette “Bodyguard” training session circa 1913.
The Jiujitsuffragettes in full period costume.
Bodyguards swinging Indian clubs, which were used both as exercise training and as weapons of self defence.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 1st November 2009
This is a very rare photograph of former Bartitsu Club instructor Pierre Vigny, at the age of 60, posing between his friends and fellow physical culture enthusiasts Edouard Jaccard (aged 69, left) and 67 year old Georges Lambert (right).
After his tenure as chief instructor at the Bartitsu Cub in London, Vigny went on to establish his own fencing and self defence academy in the English capital, returning to Geneva a year or two prior to the outbreak of the First World War. Little is known about his later life, but this photograph from an article in “La Tribune de Genève” demonstrates that he was still in good health in 1929.
The article notes that the three senior athletes enjoyed running together in the countryside around Geneva, and that they all had hearty appetites. It goes on to mention that Vigny and Lambert had fought a “Homeric” boxing bout in 1888, Vigny suffering a twisted knee when he slipped during the match. In December of 1919, the article continues, Vigny had survived a potentially fatal tram accident due to the reflexes and constitution developed over a lifetime as a physical culture and self defence enthusiast.
