Bartitsu instructor Alex Kiermayer (above) and pugilist Christoph Reinberger are teaming up for a seminar in Victorian and Edwardian antagonistics. The two-day event will cover fisticuffs, jiujitsu, Bartitsu stick fighting and more and will take place between June 30 – July 1 2018 in the Bavarian municipality of Garching an der Alz. For all details (in the German language) please visit this site.
The past week of production on No Man Shall Protect Us: The Hidden History of the Suffragette Bodyguards has included black-screen studio action scenes performed by a very talented pair of stuntpeople. Rather than shooting long, elaborate fights, the aim was to create about twenty short, diverse sequences that will be edited together to illustrate key moments of the suffragette Bodyguards’ story.
Both the Bodyguards and the London police were streetwise, experienced tusslers, but – jiujutsu lessons notwithstanding – few of them were experts in a formal fighting style. Therefore, the challenge was to keep the action within the bounds of plausibility, while still ensuring that each “fight” told its own story. That meant that the fights had to look scrappy and relatively realistic, with the Bodyguard and the constable occasionally staggering off-balance in the heat of the action or succeeding as much through luck as through skill.
Likewise, unusually for fight scenes, the characters were not necessarily trying to hurt each other. The suffragette’s objective was more often simply to get past or escape from the constable, whereas the constable was attempting to block or arrest the suffragette.
When clubs and truncheons were drawn, though, most bets were off …
The production has now also filmed a number of prop inserts, including demonstrations of the circa 1909 boardgame Suffragetto, to help illustrate the complex tactics of suffragette vs. police street skirmishes.
No Man Shall Protect Us is now entering the final stages of production. Once the documentary is edited, it will be made freely available as an educational resource via Vimeo.
Andres Morales of Chile (in the white-trimmed fencing mask) demonstrates the quick, deceptive Vigny canne style, as incorporated into Bartitsu circa 1900.
As described by a journalist from The Sporting Life newspaper in July of 1899:
(Vigny) first proceeded to demonstrate the use of the stick by showing the different attacks and guards, displaying wonderful wrist work, in which great strengths and suppleness were combined. He grasps a stout Malacca cane about six inches from the end, and does all the movements with the wrist only, and not with the fingers. He passes his stick from right hand to left and vice versa without the slightest trouble, using right-hand and left-hand alternately with equal dexterity.
This photo published in the Italian journal La Stampa Sportiva (November, 1903) shows former Bartitsu Club instructor Sadakazu Uyenishi wheeling out an old favourite. The “bamboo pole trick” had been a feature of some of the earliest exhibitions of jiujitsu in London, and a prone variation on the same principle was even mentioned in the memoir of Dutch anthropologist Herman ten Kate, who had trained in the same Shinden Fudo Ryu dojo in Kobe as had Bartitsu founder E.W. Barton-Wright.
As a test/demonstration, the “bamboo pole trick” legitimately does show off the performer’s ability to withstand pain and discomfort and to manage the direction of pressure against their throat. Subtle shifts of position change the angle of pressure from “straight into the trachea” to “downward against the collar-bones”, which, though still uncomfortable and somewhat risky, is a less actively dangerous than trying to resist a pole shoved directly into the sensitive throat area.
That said, it’s really more of a carnival sideshow stunt than an exhibition of martial arts skill, and that point was not lost on some early observers of the trick in London. According to a report published in the Sporting Times of October 20, 1900:
Then the talking began, for a gentleman of ripe years, alluded to affectionately by most of the audience as “Charley,” was not quite satisfied with the pushing experiment of arm against throat, and had something to say as to leverage and the Georgia Magnet. Whether he wanted make a match between the little American lady and the big Jap, we in the stalls could not quite catch; but when the discussion was at its height, Mr. Barton Wright appeared from behind the scenes with a message from the big Jap*. He (the big Jap) would stand against the wall, and let the doubting gentleman push with the pole as hard as be could against his throat, if afterwards the doubler would wrestle a fall with him.
It’s a little ironic that “Charley” should have cited the Georgia Magnet in his objection to the bamboo pole trick, given that E.W. Barton-Wright himself had published an expose of Georgia Magnet-style leverage tricks presented as feats of “supernatural” strength.
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Antagonistics V – Tactical Principles of Victorian Self-Defense
with Professor Mark P. Donnelly
Saturday, April 21, 2018, 1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
440 Lafayette Street, Room 3D
New York, NY 10003
Mark P. Donnelly (Professor of Arms), an internationally-recognized expert on historical combat, will teach this five-hour “gentlemanly antagonistics” workshop.
– Explore the tactical principles of Bartitsu, and how they are still relevant today.
– Learn to use a walking stick, parasol, and other Victorian accessories to maintain “preservation of person and property when beset upon by ne’er-do-wells of nefarious intent.”
– For the first time ever, we’ll be exploring the history and use of the swordstick or sword-cane as commonly carried in Victorian and Edwardian Europe.
This workshop is a rare opportunity to study martial arts, combative theory, and obscure history in a safe, controlled, welcoming and civilized atmosphere with some of the top practitioners in the world. Open to gentlemen and ladies over 18. All experience levels welcome and all equipment provided.
Visit www.nycsteampunk.com to register. Places are limited.
The following article by N. Tegan Lewis was originally published in the Women’s Freedom League newspaper of April 22, 1909, following the jiujitsu self-defence displays by Edith Garrud at London’s Caxton Hall (shown above).
We’ve offered a few contextual annotations, which are shown in italics.
A novel feature of the Green, White and Gold Fair, at Caxton Hall, was the jiu-jitsu displays given by women. Apart from the fact that it is splendid physical exercise, jiu-jitsu is the most suitable form of self-defence for women, success depending on the dexterous use of the opponent’s strength. The science has three branches: the throws, which require much practice; the art of self-defence exclusively, by which all attacks by violence may be resisted; and the art, when the opponent has been thrown, of wrestling on the ground and rendering him unconscious by neck locks and other means. Happily, measures so stringent as those taught in this third branch are not often necessary, but in an encounter with a desperate burglar or an escaped lunatic the knowledge would be decidedly useful.
Emily Watts, another pioneering jiujitsu instructor of this era, largely dismissed ne-waza (mat grappling) in her 1906 manual The Fine Art of Jujutsu, on grounds of sensibility rather than practicality.
In the course of the last quarter of a century women in this country have developed physically, as mentally, in an amazing way while men have been—well, let us say—at a standstill. The modern healthy girl, backed by a knowledge of some scientific art of defence, could render a very good account of herself when necessary and men “Anti’s” who are so fond of the physical force “argument” would do well to take heed in time lest the day come, and perhaps it is not far distant, when they will not be allowed to let the matter drop.
“Anti’s” refers to those who were against the movement towards women’s suffrage. The fallacious “argument of physical force” essentially stated that women should not be given political power on the grounds that such power ultimately resolves into the ability to exert physical force.
We are all familiar with Mr. Punch’s famous advice to those about to marry, but, though Mr. Punch “were like to die of it,” we have not yet heard Mrs. Punch’s opinion on the matter. May we suggest, with all due deference to Mr. Punch, that her advice to the girl would be “learn jiu-jitsu”?
During the Edwardian period, the Punch and Judy puppet show preserved Mr. Punch’s ferocious violence against virtually all the other characters, including his wife Judy.
Such a precaution would be, let us hope in the majority of cases, merely a matter of form. At the same time it is idle to ignore the fact that there are men, in all classes of society, who habitually ill-treat their wives. At present the usual advice given to the ill-used wife, when circumstances render it practically impossible for her to leave her husband, is “do not lower yourself by retaliation, at all costs uphold your womanly dignity.” Setting aside the utter impossibility of being dignified under such circumstances this advice is, theoretically, perfectly sound. Practically jiu-jitsu is likely to prove far more effective for it is universally acknowledged that your bully is usually a coward.
The theme of jiujitsu as self-defence against an abusive husband provided the basis of the polemic playlet What Every Woman Ought to Know (1911), which included a spectacular fight scene staged by Edith Garrud.
It has long been the custom to consider women more timid than men, but one has only to scan the newspapers day by day to realize that in cases of great emergency—such as the Messina earthquake—women are every whit as brave as men; and hardly a week goes by but some woman goes to the assistance of the police in a street brawl while a crowd of men—citizens stand idly by, indifferent or amused, oblivious of any responsibility. Moreover, in the days when entrance to the army was an easy affair, many women fought side by side with the men and many instances are on record of women taking part in sea fights. There was Hannah Snell, who enlisted as a marine and saw active service, and Mary Ann Talbot, otherwise John Taylor, who was wounded in the action of the Glorious First of June, both of whom received pensions from a grateful Government. Anne Bonney and Mary Read, after serving in the Navy, turned pirates—to their own profit, doubtless, if not to that of the State.
Public opinion has hitherto been the greatest enemy to the physical development of women; the pioneer women cyclists were covered with scorn, the girls who first declared their preference for hockey over croquet were looked at askance as hoydens. Happily the world soon gets accustomed to new ideas, and to-day the girl who cycles and the girl who plays hockey are taken very much as a matter of course—just as will be the girl of to-morrow who practises jiu-jitsu. In a few years time let us hope that the woman who is not versed in the art of self-defence will be regarded, and rightly regarded, as an anomaly.
Edith Garrud’s demonstrations did, in fact, spark a wide interest in women’s jiujitsu, including a fad for “jiujitsu parties”. Mrs. Garrud also established an exclusive “Suffragettes Self-Defence Club” and, several years thereafter, became the jiujitsu instructor for the secret Bodyguard Society of the Women’s Social and Political Union.
The following short article is notable for its reference to the Trinidadian stick fighting style of “playing bois”, which is closely cognate to the Grenadian bois stick style that was amalgamated with Pierre Vigny’s art of self defence with a walking stick by H.G. Lang during the early 1920s. Although Grenadian bois seems to have evolved into a ceremonial dance, similar stick fighting sports can still be found throughout the Caribbean island chain.
Single combat in various forms survives all over the world, and different peoples have different methods of showing their prowess. In the island of Trinidad, for instance, the natives, who speak mixture of French patois and English, call their method “playing bois” (literally stick-fighting).
The stick used is about a yard long and usually made from the “puie” tree, a very hard wood. This is held at each end diagonally in front of the body, and the blow’s are struck releasing one hand and striking with either the left or the right. the carnival season bands from the various districts are made and contests take place whenever two bands meet.
The stick-men are extraordinarily clever at parrying blows, and an expert will stop a cricket ball thrown at him.
Sketch artist Tom Brown recorded his impressions of a “ju-jitsu festival” taking place in Kyoto for the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News of November 13, 1909. He noted that he admired the wrestling itself and also the formal courtesies offered by the competitors before and after each contest, which were “almost as elaborate as a fencing match”.
Although he had been brought to London to partner Yukio Tani in teaching and demonstrating Japanese unarmed combat via the Bartitsu Club, Sadakazu “Raku” Uyenishi went his own way after the club closed during early 1902. While Tani went on to great success as a music hall wrestler, Uyenishi established the successful Golden Square School of Jujitsu. As described in this article from the Leicester Daily Post of December 9th, 1905, Uyenishi also gave a number of exhibitions for the armed services.
Noting as usual that the term “Jap” did not carry any negative connotation in Edwardian English, being directly equivalent to the abbreviation “Brit” for British.
Professor Uyenishi, of London, and Mr. Nelson, a promising pupil, gave fine display of the Japanese national art at Glen Parva barracks on Thursday evening. The first portion consisted of throws and self-defence tricks, with some of the wonderful locks which are used in the above. The trips by ankle and knee were given with marvelous dexterity, but undoubtedly the most wonderful tricks of this kind were achieved with the cross hock and cross thigh, when the defeated wrestler found himself performing a neat “cartwheel.”
The Professor also gave a fine exhibition of self-defence tricks, showing how a small man, or woman, may easily defeat a burly opponent, although taken at a serious disadvantage by being attacked from behind. Then followed a lesson for the pupil, who, despite his frantic endeavours to keep his feet, soon found that he had had enough.
The final part of the display was between the Professor and Sergt. Jones, of the gymnastic staff of the depot, who came to the front on the Professor’s call for a volunteer The sergeant made a determined effort to keep feet and, if possible, throw the clever little Jap, but ultimately had to give the signal of defeat, after a good struggle. This concluded the performance, no other candidate coming forward to try conclusions with the professor, who, needless to say, had delighted the audience.
The City of London police history blog Plodd in the Square Mile offers this short but informative article on Sergeant George Wheeldon, who essentially pioneered the systematic practice of unarmed self-defence within the English police force.
Sergeant Wheeldon had been in the audience during some of E.W. Barton-Wright’s first Bartitsu displays, including the original Tivoli Theatre displays by Yukio Tani and Sadakazu Uyenishi. He was also a prominent correspondent in the great “Jujitsu vs. Boxing and Wrestling” debates that raged via letters to the editors of various sporting journals during 1905-7. In a letter to Health and Strength Magazine, Wheeldon evinced some skepticism about jiujitsu, more in terms of its actual novelty than its evident practicality:
Regarding a number of these holds, I can safely assert that I knew a great many of them long before Ju-ju-tsu came to this country, having studied anatomy for many years, and always having a hankering for tricks of self defence. I learnt a good many through the above study.
He went on to note that the jiujitsu “scissor hold” (dojime) was not unique to Japanese unarmed combat, having been illustrated in a book on catch-as-catch-can wrestling dating to the 1820s. Another participant in the same debate referred to a different hold or takedown which was widely known among English poachers.
Although he may have been overstating his case a little for effect, and possibly out of nationalistic sentiment, Sergeant Wheeldon’s own course in self-defence was itself an eclectic blend of Japanese and English grappling techniques. It probably represents the first attempt to systematise a method of unarmed self-defence and restraint training for a professional police force.
