Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 28th April 2018
Yukio Tani (right) circa 1903.
This article from the Leicester Daily Post of October 7, 1905, details a court case involving former Bartitsu Club instructor Yukio Tani. Partly at issue was the practice of pre-arranging the results of apparently spontaneous challenge matches, which was known in Edwardian-era wrestling slang as “swanking” – i.e., contrived showmanship rather than “straight” or “shoot” competition.
Yukio Tani, the famous exponent of jiu-jitsu methods of wrestling, and John Madden, a tall, lean Bermondsey labourer, met as opponents on Thursday; not on the mat and in the full glare of the footlights, but in the Westminster County Court, before Judge Woodfall.
The trouble centred round an unrehearsed incident in June at the Lyceum, when Madden, a labourer at Tower Bridge Wharf, challenged Tani. The Bermondsey man said that after the wrestling bout, in which he was thrown, the Jap severely mauled him outside the dressing-room. He claimed £8 for physical pain, incapacitation from work through injured legs, and damage to his trousers, which he now brought with him to show the judge.
Madden was cross-examined by Mr. Whiteley, on behalf of Tani.
“You are one of those men who are always coming forward with challenges?” Mr. Whiteley asked.
“Provided I am paid for it,” was the answer.
“Is it not always an arrangement that you shall be thrown in a certain way?”
“Yes.”
“Of course you know you are going to be thrown?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Is it not a fact that you asked Tani to give you a seven minutes’ show, so as to make a good display?”
“I never asked him at all. It’s like this. I am supposed to be one of those who makes the best show, and excites the audience. There is a ‘dud’ – he gets thrown in two minutes. When I tapped the floor three times he (Tani) was to release me. He put the lock on me in five minutes. I resisted, and got away; and then when I tapped the floor three times he would not leave off. He put pressure on me and hurt me. I had to shout; and when he did let go I wanted to have it out in my own style.”
“You offered to fight him on the stage with your fists?”
“Yes.”
William Bankier, known as Apollo, the strong man, said that Madden came to the stage-door, said he was hard up, and asked to be showed to try what he could do against Tani. Seeing one of his friends in the front row, and being anxious to impress him, Madden asked to be allowed to stand against the Jap for eight or nine minutes. Four or five minutes was all Tani took to throw his opponents and he would not allow any man to play about longer than necessary.
As timekeeper, Apollo saw that Tani had got Madden fixed in about four minutes, and seeing that the Bermondsey man would not accept the inevitable and that there was a likelihood of his getting hurt, the wrestle was stopped. Madden was very angry at the abrupt end of the bout and struck Tani on the side of the head. Afterwards they were induced to shake hands before the audience, but on leaving the stage Madden called Tani all sorts of names, including “a Japanese swindler” … and Tani, rushing out from his dressing-room, got Madden on the floor in quick time.
Without calling Tani, Judge Woodfall said that the plaintiff had evidently invited all he got, and there would be judgment for the defendant, each side to pay his own costs.
Posted inEdwardiana, Jiujitsu|Comments Off on “Wrestlers in Court: Labourer who Wanted to Use his Fists” (1905)
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 5th May 2018
The climactic fight between Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr. and Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), in which Holmes appropriately wields a cane against Blackwood’s devilish blade:
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 13th May 2018
Captain Sydney Temple Leopold McLaglen (1884-1951) was one of the most colourful “characters” of the early 20th century jiujitsu scene. Charismatic, moustachioed, broad-shouldered and towering at 6’7″ in height, McLaglen looked every inch the dashing British soldier, and had, in fact, been photographed with his brothers for an army recruitment campaign poster, billed as “the Fighting Macks”.
Reminiscent, however, of Sir Harry Flashman – the fictional protagonist of George Macdonald Fraser’s popular historical novel series, The Flashman Papers – Leopold McLaglen’s stalwart stature concealed the heart and mind of an adventurous con-artist.
McLaglen claimed to have studied Japanese unarmed combat from boyhood with a family servant who was proficient in the art, rapidly advancing to the point where he was able to defeat his instructor. He also claimed to be the Jiujitsu Champion of the World, based on his highly dubious defeat of a Japanese fighter named Kanada in British Columbia during 1907, here summarised by a local reporter:
For two hours the spectators saw nothing but Kanada crouching on the mat with McLaglen on top of him and there was little, if any, jiu-jitsu to the performance. It was apparent to everyone that McLaglen’s knowledge of the game could be covered with a pinhead.
McLaglen’s enthusiastic self-promotion was, thus, inspired by an essentially meaningless title, as – even if he had won a clear victory over Kanada – there was neither a governing body nor a recognised format of international jiujitsu competition during this period.
During late 1911 and early 1912 Leo McLaglen was again in the newspapers, this time for having been caught impersonating his own younger brother, Victor, who was by then making a name for himself as a boxer and as an actor. While working as a doorman at a Milwaukee movie theatre, Leo began calling himself “Victor Fred McLaglen” and publicly claimed a storied past as a decorated hero of the Boer War, a former British intelligence agent and member of King Edward’s bodyguard corps, and a soldier of fortune who’d chased down criminals in Canada. He also said that he had fought heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson in Vancouver during 1909.
Riding on local media notoriety, McLaglen then challenged a fencing instructor to a broadsword match with what appear to have been live blades – the resulting contest was an appalling bloodbath – and shortly thereafter challenged the boxer “Fireman” Jim Flynn, only to be knocked down several times within three rounds. At that point his brother Victor caught wind of Leopold’s shenanigans and sent a letter to the editor of the Milwaukee Free Press, denouncing Leo as an impostor but pointedly not mentioning that the two of them were, in fact, related.
Leopold left Milwaukee in disgrace and turned up about a year later in South Africa, where he teamed with strongman Tromp van Diggelen in a touring jiujitsu act. Van Diggelen later wrote that he was surprised to discover that McLaglen’s “paralysing” nerve grips did not actually work, but he was happy to feign being immobilised for the sake of showbiz.
During one performance, however, McLaglen was challenged by a member of the audience who turned out to be a well-known local boxer. As the boxer climbed onto the stage and began removing his jacket, McLaglen unaccountably punched him in the face, causing the pugilist to go berzerk. Van Diggelen then watched bemusedly as his partner was pummeled off the stage and up a flight of stairs leading to their dressing room.
Nevertheless, Leopold McLaglen successfully parlayed his “Jiujitsu Champion” claim into a reputation as a military close-combat expert. By 1913 he was touring India, China, the Philippine Islands, Australia and New Zealand, teaching and demonstrating his version of jiujitsu and also an unusual system of bayonet fighting, which he also claimed to have invented. The McLaglen Bayonet System was notable for its incorporation of extreme close-quarters techniques such as trips, disarms and throws.
Trainee soldiers practice tripping opponents during one of McLaglen’s bayonet combat courses.
Most of McLaglen’s trainees were soldiers and police officers, many of whom were recruited as performers in large public Assault-at-Arms exhibitions starring McLaglen himself, supplementing his jiujitsu and bayonet displays with feats of strength, horsemanship and swordsmanship.
By this time, Leo McLaglen’s jiujitsu claims included purported defeats of a veritable who’s who of (notably obscure) opponents, including:
(…) T. E. Hiria, M. Tani and Prof. Yamagata, one of the best men in Japan, who was engaged by President Roosevelt to teach the American police jiujitsu. Captain McLaglen broke the professor’s arm. Prof. Fukamuchi (Los Angeles), Watanalu, Rondo, Saku, Prof. Shimura and [Henry] De Raymond all sustained defeat, the last named, a man of 350 lbs., retiring with a broken shoulder blade. In Calcutta, January 1913, Capt. McLaglen defeated Prof. Yamasaki and Prof. Toda (…)
Even allowing for the vagaries of transliterating Japanese names into English during the early 20th century, this is a highly dubious list. “Professor Yamagata” is clearly a garbled reference to Yoshiaki Yamashita, who actually was President Theodore Roosevelt’s personal judo instructor, but there appear to be no records of McLaglen and Yamashita ever having met, let alone to the former breaking the latter’s arm.
In the years during and following the First World War, Leo McLaglen produced a series of jiujitsu and self-defence training manuals, including books on his bayonet system and on self-protection for women. His greatest notoriety, however, was to come during the 1930s, when he arrived in Hollywood.
Attempting to break into show business as an actor and director – though his only previous experience seems to have been a supporting role in the British drama Bars of Iron (1920) – Leopold quickly again ran afoul of his brother Victor, who was, by this time, a successful member of the Hollywood establishment. Their feud led to Leopold suing Victor for $90,000, charging slander and defamation of character. The trial judge rejected the lawsuit, and it was reported that Leopold refused Victor’s offer to shake his hand afterwards.
Leopold McLaglen (seated, front left) poses with Nazi sympathisers in a private Los Angeles home.
The years 1937 and 1938 proved to be Leopold McLaglen’s nadir. Still based in Los Angeles, he became involved with the American Nazi underground and apparently masterminded a plot to assassinate twenty-four prominent “Hollywood Jews”, including Charlie Chaplin, Al Jolson, Jack Benny, Eddy Cantor and Samuel Goldwyn. This scheme, which involved planned assassinations by machine gun and explosives, was to have been funded by millionaire sportsman Philip Chancellor, who had originally hired McLaglen as a jiujitsu instructor.
When the assassination plot was uncovered and defused by a network of private investigators hired by Hollywood studio heads, Leo McLaglen attempted to extort $20,000 from Chancellor, which led to his arrest. In his own defence, McLaglen claimed that he had, in fact, been working as a secret agent attempting to expose Chancellor as a Nazi spy, but his evidence did not convince the jury and he was offered the choice of either leaving the United States for five years, or spending that time in prison. Victor McLaglen, by this time an Academy Award-winning actor, paid for Leopold’s boat fare back to England.
Leopold McLaglen died on January 4th, 1951, leaving an intriguing but very deeply tarnished legacy.
Posted inBiography, Jiujitsu|Comments Off on The Martial Shenanigans of Leopold McLaglen
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 12th June 2018
Under “Bar-titsu ” I comprise boxing, or the use of the fist as a hitting medium, the use of the feet both in an offensive and defensive sense, the use of the walking-stick as a means of self-defence in such a way as to make it practically impossible to be hit upon the fingers.
– E.W. Barton-Wright, “Ju-Jitsu and Ju-Do”; Transactions and Proceedings of the Japan Society, London (1901)
Bartitsu founder E.W. Barton-Wright’s articles and presentations repeatedly highlighted the Vigny system’s innovative guard structure, which was geared around protecting the defender’s weapon-wielding hand.
The basic combative logic of this style of guarding was clearly explained by Barton-Wright in 1901:
It must be understood that the new art of self-defence with a walking-stick, herewith introduced for the first time, differs essentially from single-stick or sword-play; for a man may be a champion in the use of sword or single-stick and yet be quite unable to put a walking-stick to any effective use as a weapon of defence.
The simple and sufficient reason to account for this is that both in single-stick and sword-play a cut is always taken up by the hilt of the weapon, whereas if you attempted to guard a blow with a walking-stick — which has no hilt — in the same way as you would with a sword, the blow would slide down your stick onto your hand and disable you.
Therefore, in order to make a stick a real means of self-defence, it has been necessary to devise a system by which one can guard a blow in such a way as to cause it to slide away from the hand instead of toward it, and thus obviate the risk of being disarmed by being hit upon the fingers.
After some fifteen years of hard work, such a system has been devised by a Swiss professor of arms, M. Vigny. It has recently been assimilated by me into my system of self-defence called “Bartitsu.”
– Barton-Wright, “Self-defence with a Walking-stick: The Different Methods of Defending Oneself with a Walking-Stick or Umbrella when Attacked under Unequal Conditions (Part I)”, Pearson’s Magazine, 11 (January 1901)
Within the scheme of Vigny’s style, protecting the weapon-wielding hand was accomplished by:
1) Guards by Distance
Like many martial arts and fencing instructors, Vigny favoured “guards by distance”, i.e. avoiding an opponent’s attack while simultaneously counter-attacking:
2) High Guard Positions
Vigny’s implicit critique of more traditional stick fighting systems was that these styles essentially treated the cane as if it were a substitute sabre. Crucially, that meant that they included the standard sabre-style parries of tierce and quarte, in which the weapon-wielding hand is held lower than the point of impact, leading to the risks referred to above by Barton-Wright:
Above: a mid-level parry in tierce.
Students in more traditional cane defence classes wore heavily padded gloves to mitigate the chance of injuries to their hands and fingers in training, but of course these items, like hilts, are not present in spontaneous street altercations. Therefore, Vigny eliminated tierce- and quarte-style parries from his own system, which was specifically designed for self-defence rather than academic fencing.
Similarly, being further spatially removed from the opposing weapon, the characteristic high guard positions of the Vigny style – particularly the Rear Guard, shown in the centre above – reduce the chances of the weapon-wielding hand being targetted and “sniped” by an alert opponent.
Casual perusers of Barton-Wright’s articles on stick fighting are sometimes confused by the incidence of fighting stances in which the defender’s cane appears to be held in tierce/quarte. Those stances, however, fall into two specific categories:
representations of the (presumably not Bartitsu-trained) “opponent” assuming a tierce/quarte-type guard stance for purposes of demonstration, as Pierre Vigny (right) does here:
representations of the Bartitsu-trained defender assuming a position of invitation, in which the defender deliberately lowers, widens or otherwise modifies his front guard stance in order to “bait” the opponent’s attack to an apparently exposed target, as Vigny does here:
The defences that emerge out of those positions include hanging guard parries, pre-emptive strikes and closing in to grapple with the opponent at close quarters. They never include actual parries in the tierce or quarte positions, which contradict the basic strategy of the Vigny style.
3) Hanging Guards
“Hanging” guards are those in which the defender’s weapon-wielding hand is positioned higher than the point of impact between the two weapons at the moment the attack is parried. This position has the effect of deflecting or “shedding” an attack downward along the shaft of the cane:
The combination of the “guard by distance” tactic, the default to high guard positions and the options of hanging guards as backup defences represents the combative ideal of “striking without being struck” and offers the optimal chance of avoiding disarms and hand injuries in a stick fight.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Wednesday, 20th June 2018
Written, co-directed and co-produced by Bartitsu instructor Tony Wolf, the 50-minute documentary No Man Shall Protect Us: The Hidden History of the Suffragette Bodyguards explores the origins and exploits of “The Bodyguard” – a secret society of women who trained in jiujitsu and defended the leaders of the radical suffragette movement in England.
Posted inDocumentary, Suffrajitsu, Video|Comments Off on Suffrajitsu Documentary “No Man Shall Protect Us” Now Freely Available Online
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 23rd June 2018
Bartitsu demonstrations will be part of the festivities at the second Sherlockon Poland convention, taking place between June 30-July 1 2018 at the Ursynów Culture Center in Warsaw, Poland.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 24th June 2018
This article from The Globe newspaper of February 3rd, 1910 reveals some more mugging tricks developed by the so-called Apache street gangsters of Paris.
Most of these marauders were professional thieves and burglars, who are divided, in their own slang, into “ceux qu montent” the burglars; “ceux qui marchent”, or thieves of various classes; and “ceux qui butent”, those who make a speciality of nocturnal aggression. It is the third category which is most dreaded by Parisians, for the desperate criminals who make a speciality of night attacks are a bloodthirsty, cowardly set of ruffians, and they are always armed to the teeth and hold human life—the lives of others, bien entendu — very cheap. A solitary citizen going home late, or a policeman on a lonely beat, has very little chance against them.
M. Henri Christian lately made the acquaintance of three hooligans whose speciality is “night work,” and they gave him some details of the manner in which they operate. One the three was named Baigueur, the second answered to the nickname of the Costeau de Grenelle, and the third, because the extraordinary size of his nose, was known to his companions Cyrano.
When they have once made up their minds rob a passer-by— which one does not matter much — it is more than likely they will decide to begin operations by the “coup de la discussion.” That means that the three “apaches” will take up position the pavement, and pretend to be engaged in innocent gossip. The street or the boulevard is deserted; a solitary pedestrian comes into sight. In a moment he is weighed up the three scoundrels the look-out for their prey. There is not a policeman sight. The moment is favourable.
“He has a gold chain,” says one. . .
“He’ll do,” says the chief the criminal trio. “Get ready.”
They continue to converse until the Stranger reaches them. Involuntarily he glances at them he passes. That is sufficient.
“What do you mean by looking at like that?” asks the chief in an insolent tone. Then turning his companions, he remarks: “Hasn’t he got an ugly mug?” The pedestrian, however little he may be inclined quarrel with the evil-looking ruffians who have accosted him, will unlikely take their insults in silence. But his first word of protest one of the group advances him with a menacing “What! I’ll show you who you’ve got to deal with.”
The stranger stands upon his guard, but immediately another member the trio bounds upon him from behind, seizes him round the neck with his arm, and lifts him off the ground. His cries for help are stifled in his throat, and if he succeeds making himself heard the arm which presses against his throat is tightened and he loses consciousness.
While this is going on another of the accomplices goes through the victim’s pockets, while the third keeps watch for the police. Then, when everything worth taking has been appropriated, the wretch who has almost strangled the “pante” (victim) releases his arm, gives the victim a violent push, and sends him headlong into the pavement, where he will lie senseless for half an hour at least.
Sometimes things do not always pass so easily. Sometimes the victim shows more resistance than was expected, and then the apaches have to modify their plans. He must either be stunned with blow from a mutton-bone or given a stab with knife or dagger. The mutton-bone used by the Paris apache is a terrible weapon. In appearance it resembles a small hatchet, minus the handle, is about six inches long, and comes from the shoulder of the sheep. This and the knife and the knuckle-duster are the favourite weapons of the Paris hooligan. They are both effective and noiseless, whereas the use the revolver is likely to attract the attention of the police.
The one thing the nocturnal marauder cannot forgive is being the victim of a mistake as to the value of the pedestrian he has singled out for attack. If he has a watchchain and no watch, and if his pockets be empty, then woe to the unfortunate “pante”. To punish him for having misled “Messieurs les Rodeurs,” he is treated with the utmost savagery, thrown brutally the ground, and stamped on. Another terrible punishment inflicted on the pedestrian who does not answer to the expectations of the cowardly ruffians who waylay him at night is the sonnage, which consists in taking the victim’s head by the ears and bumping it into the edge of the pavement.
Among the more recent methods developed by the Apaches of Paris for rendering the passing citizen- incapable of resistance is the lasso. At the favourable moment a cord, from 15ft. to 20ft. length and ending in a running knot, is thrown by an expert hand. As it falls over the victim’s head, the cord is jerked tight, and, half-strangled, he is thrown the ground. The rest is easy.
Posted inHooliganism|Comments Off on “Tricks of the Parisian Apaches” (1910)
The chasse median is also one of the few kicks represented in the Bartitsu canon, albeit in the context of demonstrating how the Bartitsu-trained defender could counter this type of attack, which was picturesquely described by E.W. Barton-Wright as the “Most Dangerous Kick of an Expert Kicker”:
It’s likely that Barton-Wright had in mind the use of kicking attacks by Parisian street gangsters, who had then recently been dubbed “Apaches” – though it would take a few more years before that nickname gained real pop-culture currency. Barton-Wright’s presentation of kicking in Bartitsu was, of course, also coloured by the prevailing English sentiment towards French athletics (and particularly French kickers) at the turn of the 20th century …
Posted inCanonical Bartitsu, Savate|Comments Off on “The Most Dangerous Kick of an Expert Kicker”
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 29th June 2018
Bartitsu with Alex Kiermayer
Alexander Kiermayer is probably one of the most prominent instructors of the historical fencing scene. He has a broad background in various martial arts and is training counselor of the group ‘Ochs – historical martial arts ‘. His great knowledge combined with his practical skills make him a sought-after speaker at home and abroad.
Bartitsu is a martial art and self-defence system that existed between 1898 and 1902 in England. A special feature of the system – and seminar focus – is the use of walking sticks as weapons. Bartitsu became known, among others, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes novels, in which the protagonist also practices “Baritsu”. The art is a combination of Jiu Jitsu, Swiss svingen wrestling, elements of boxing, Savate (French boxing) and stick fencing.
Place: Gymnasium of elementary school – St.-Georg-Str. 20, 91338 Igensdorf close to the main road 2, approx. 18 km from the BAB 3 (Exit Nürnberg-Nord, then towards Bayreuth)
Time: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 10:00 – 16:30
Cost: 30.- € (cash payment on the spot)
Participation: No requirements, open to all associations, styles and grades
Other:
Equipment: Sportswear (also contemporary), gym-suitable shoes, sticks made of rattan, ash or polyethylene; rattan sticks can also be purchased cheaply on site.
Free night in the practice room in Pettensiedel on request!
