Bartitsu
Encyclopedia
Bartitsu is an eclectic martial art and self-defence method originally developed in England during the years 1898–1902. In 1901 it was immortalised (as "baritsu") by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
, author of the Sherlock Holmes
mystery stories. Although dormant throughout most of the 20th century, Bartitsu has been experiencing a revival
since 2002.
, a British
engineer
who had spent the previous three years living in the Empire of Japan
, returned to England and announced the formation of a "New Art of Self Defence". This art, he claimed, combined the best elements of a range of fighting styles into a unified whole, which he had named Bartitsu. Barton-Wright, who had previously also studied "boxing
, wrestling
, fencing
, savate
and the use of the stiletto
under recognised masters", defined Bartitsu as meaning "self defence in all its forms". The word was a portmanteau of his own surname and of "Jujitsu
".
As detailed in a series of articles Barton-Wright produced for Pearson's Magazine between 1899 and 1901, Bartitsu was largely drawn from the Shinden Fudo Ryu jujutsu of sensei
Terajima Kuniichiro (not to be confused with the SFR taijutsu
associated with the Bujinkan
lineage) and from Kodokan judo
. As it became established in London, the art expanded to incorporate combat techniques from the Tenjin Shinyō
, Fusen and Daito schools of jujutsu as well as British boxing, Swiss schwingen
, French savate and a defensive la canne
(stick fighting
) style that had been developed by Pierre Vigny
of Switzerland. Bartitsu also included a comprehensive physical culture
training system.
In his notes for a lecture delivered to the Japan Society of London in 1901, Barton-Wright wrote:
in Soho
. In an article for Sandow's Magazine of Physical Culture
vol. 6, (January 1901), journalist Mary Nugent described the Bartitsu Club as "... a huge subterranean hall, all glittering, white-tiled walls, and electric light, with 'champions' prowling around it like tigers."
Via correspondence with Professor Jigoro Kano, the founder of Kodokan Judo, and other contacts in Japan, Barton-Wright arranged for Japanese jujutsu practitioners K. Tani, S. Yamamoto and the nineteen year old Yukio Tani
to travel to London and serve as instructors at the Bartitsu Club. K. Tani and Yamamoto soon returned to Japan, but Yukio Tani stayed and was shortly joined by another young jujutsuka, Sadakazu Uyenishi
. Swiss master-at-arms Pierre Vigny
and wrestler Armand Cherpillod were also employed as teachers at the Club. As well as teaching well-to-do Londoners, their duties included performing demonstrations and competing in challenge matches against fighters representing other combat styles. In addition, the Club became the headquarters for a group of fencing
antiquarians led by Captain Alfred Hutton
and it served as their base for experimenting with historical fencing techniques, which they taught to members of London's acting elite for use in stage combat
.
In mid-1901, the curriculum of Bartitsu was further expanded to include breathing exercises under the tuition of Mrs. Emil Behnke.
As well as the combat gymnasium, the Bartitsu Club incorporated a well-appointed salon equipped with a wide range of electrotherapy
machines.
The Club was organised on the model of the Victorian sporting club; prospective members submitted their applications to a committee, which at one time included both Captain Alfred Hutton and Colonel George Malcolm Fox, former Inspector-General of the British Army
's Physical Training Corps. Promoters of the Club included politicians Herbert Gladstone and Lord Alwyne Compton
.
Bartitsu Club membership included Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon
, who was later to achieve notoriety as one of the few adult male survivors of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, as well as Captain F.C. Laing of the 12th Bengal Infantry, who subsequently wrote an article on Bartitsu stick fighting techniques which was published in the Journal of the United Service Institution of India. Other Club members included Mssrs. Marshall, Collard, Roger Noel, Percy Rolt and Captains Ernest George Stenson Cooke
and Frank Herbert Whittow, both also members of the London Rifle Brigade School of Arms, under the direction of Captain Hutton; and William Henry Grenfell, the 1st Baron Desborough, who was named as the Club president.
Barton-Wright later reported that, during this period, he had challenged and defeated seven larger men within three minutes as part of a Bartitsu demonstration he gave at St. James's Hall. He said this feat earned him a membership in the prestigious Bath Club and also a Royal Command to appear before Edward, Prince of Wales
. Unfortunately, Barton-Wright then suffered an injury to his hand, due either to a fight in a Kent
ish country lane or a bicycling accident, which prevented him from appearing before the Prince.
The goal was to master each style well enough that they could be used against the others if needed. This process was similar to the modern concept of cross-training and it can be argued that Bartitsu itself was more in the nature of a cross-training system than a formal martial arts style.
In 1899, Barton-Wright summarised the essential principles of Bartitsu as:
Based on Barton-Wright's writings upon this subject, it is evident that Bartitsu placed greatest emphasis upon the Vigny cane fighting system at the striking range and upon jujutsu (and, secondarily, the "all-in" style of European wrestling) at the grappling range. Savate and boxing methods were used to segue
between these two ranges, or as a means of first response should the defender not be armed with a walking stick. These sports were also practiced so that Bartitsu students could learn how to defend against them through the use of jujutsu and Vigny stick fighting. Barton-Wright spoke of having modified the techniques of boxing and savate for self defence purposes, as distinct from academic and fitness training or sporting competition, referring to guards that would cause an attacking boxer to injure his own fists and to defences that would cause an attacking kicker to damage his own leg.
According to interviewer Mary Nugent, Barton-Wright instituted an unusual pedagogical system whereby students were first required to attend private training sessions before being allowed to join class groups. It is evident that Bartitsu classes included pre-arranged exercises, especially for use in rehearsing those techniques that were too dangerous to be performed at full speed or contact, as well as free-sparring and fencing bouts
. According to an anonymous article published in "The Sketch" of April 10, 1901, these sessions may have involved a type of circuit training
in which students would rotate between small group classes taught by each of the specialist instructors.
Many Bartitsu self defence techniques and training sequences were recorded by Barton-Wright himself in his series of articles for Pearson's Magazine. The specific details of other Bartitsu stick fighting training drills were recorded in Captain Laing's article.
Most of Barton-Wright's former employees, including jujutsuka Yukio Tani and Sadakazu Uyenishi and Swiss self defence expert Pierre Vigny, established their own self defence and combat sports gymnasiums in London. After breaking with Barton-Wright, purportedly due to an argument and a fight, Tani also continued his work as a professional music-hall wrestler under the shrewd management of William Bankier, a strength performer and magazine publisher who went by the stage name of "Apollo". Bankier's promotional efforts helped to spur the international fad
for jujutsu that Barton-Wright had begun, and which included the publication of numerous books and magazine articles as well as the establishment of jujutsu schools throughout the Western world. This fad lasted until the beginning of World War I
and served to introduce jujutsu into Western popular culture
.
Although Barton-Wright was rumoured to have continued to develop and teach his martial art at least until the 1920s, it never again returned to prominence.
mystery stories. In 1901 Conan Doyle had revived Holmes for a further story, The Adventure of the Empty House
, in which Holmes explained his victory over Professor Moriarty
in their struggle at Reichenbach Falls
by the use of "baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me".
The term "baritsu" did not exist outside the pages of the English editions of The Adventure of the Empty House. It is possible that Conan Doyle, who, like E.W. Barton-Wright, was writing for Pearson’s Magazine during the late 1890s, was vaguely aware of Bartitsu and simply mis-remembered or misheard the term; it may even have been a typographical error or a concern about copyright
. It should also be noted that a newspaper report on a Bartitsu demonstration in London, published in 1900, had been titled "Japanese Wrestling at the Tivoli" and likewise misspelled the name as baritsu.
Given the enormous popularity of the Sherlock Holmes stories, the fact that Homes credited his survival and victory against Moriarty to "baritsu" and the fact that E.W. Barton-Wright's martial art had quickly faded from popular memory, the confusion of names persisted through much of the 20th century. In an article for the Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual of 1958, journalist Ralph Judson correctly identified baritsu with Bartitsu, but Judson's article itself eventually became obscured. During the 1980s researchers Alan Fromm and Nicolas Soames re-affirmed the relationship between baritsu and Bartitsu and by the 1990s scholars including Yuichi Hirayama, John Hall, Richard Bowen and James Webb were able to confidently identify and document the martial art of Sherlock Holmes.
. He continued to use the name "Bartitsu" with reference to his various therapeutic businesses. In 1950, Barton-Wright was interviewed by Gunji Koizumi
for an article appearing in the Budokwai
newsletter, and later that year he was presented to the audience at a Budokwai gathering in London. He died in 1951, at the age of 90, and was buried in what the late martial arts historian Richard Bowen described as being "a pauper's grave."
, and was almost certainly the first to have taught them in Europe, the British Empire
or the Americas.
Bartitsu was the first martial art to have deliberately combined Asian and European fighting styles towards addressing the problems of civilian/urban self-defence
in an "unarmed society". In this, Barton-Wright anticipated Bruce Lee
's Jeet Kune Do
approach by over seventy years. A similar philosophy of pragmatic
eclecticism
was taken up by other early 20th century European self-defence specialists, including Percy Longhurst, William Garrud and Jean Joseph-Renaud, all of whom had studied with former Bartitsu Club instructors.
Bill Underwood
, William E. Fairbairn
and others charged with developing close combat
systems for use by Allied
troops during the Second World War likewise devised practical, intercultural hand-to-hand combat systems. Underwood had actually studied jujutsu with Yukio Tani and another jujutsuka, Taro Miyake
, in London during the first decade of the 20th century. The systems founded by Underwood, Fairbairn, and their contemporaries became the basis for most military
and police
close-combat training throughout the Western world during the 20th century.
E.W. Barton-Wright is also remembered as a pioneering promoter of mixed martial arts
or MMA contests, in which experts in different fighting styles compete under common rules. Barton-Wright's champions, including Yukio Tani, Sadakazu Uyenishi and Swiss schwingen
wrestler Armand Cherpillod enjoyed considerable success in these contests, which anticipated the MMA phenomenon of the 1990s by a hundred years.
The Bartitsu Club was among the first schools of its type in Europe to offer specialised classes in women's self defence, a practice taken up after the Club's demise by students of Yukio Tani and Sadakazu Uyenishi including Edith Margaret Garrud
and Emily Watts
. Mrs. Garrud established her own jujutsu dojo
(school) in London and also taught the art to members of the militant Suffragette
movement, establishing an early association between self defence training and the political philosophy of feminism
.
archives by Richard Bowen. Almost immediately, the "Self Defence with a Walking Stick" articles attracted a minor cult
following and the illustrations were reproduced, often with humorous captions or other alterations, on a number of other sites. Also in that year, Bartitsu stick fighting demonstrations were added to the educational displays performed at the Royal Armouries
in Leeds
, U.K.
In 2002, an international association of Bartitsu enthusiasts, known as the Bartitsu Society, was formed to research and then revive E.W. Barton-Wright's "New Art of Self Defence". The Society approaches Bartitsu research and training via two related fields, those of canonical
Bartitsu (the self-defense sequences that were detailed by Barton-Wright and his associates between 1899–1902) and neo-Bartitsu (modern, individualised interpretations drawing from the canon but reinforced by the training manuals produced by former Bartitsu Club instructors and their students between 1899 and the early 1920s).
The modern revival aims to both preserve what is known of the canonical syllabus and to continue Barton-Wright's experiments in cross-training/testing between (kick)boxing, jiujitsu and stick fighting as they were practiced circa 1901, on the premise that these experiments were left as a work in progress
when the original Bartitsu Club closed down. Thus, the revival is considered to be a deliberately anachronistic, collaborative, open-ended and open source
project.
Associated interests include the study of the martial arts as Victorian
and Edwardian social history
. The Bartitsu Society communicates via an email group established by author Will Thomas
and individual members offer practical seminars and training courses in Bartitsu fighting techniques.
From 2003 onwards, members of the Bartitsu Society began to teach seminar courses in various aspects of the art at stage combat
and martial arts conferences throughout the world. Inspired and guided by the Bartitsu Society and the two compendia, Bartitsu training programs have since been launched at the Cumann Bhata Dayton, the Vancouver-based Academie Duello, at the Alte Kampfkunst in Wuppertal, Germany, and at Briercrest College and Seminary in Caronport, Saskatchewan amongst numerous other locations.
In August 2005, the Society published a book, The Bartitsu Compendium, which was edited by Tony Wolf. The Compendium details the complete history of the art as well as a technical curriculum for canonical Bartitsu. The second volume (August 2008) comprises resources for neo-Bartitsu drawn both from Barton-Wright's own writings and from the self defence manuals produced by his colleagues and their students, including Yukio Tani, William Garrud, H.G. Lang and Jean Joseph Renaud. Proceeds from the sales of the Bartitsu Compendium, the Bartitsu Compendium II, and the Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes DVD have been dedicated to creating a memorial for E.W. Barton-Wright and to furthering the revival of Bartitsu.
In September 2006, Bartitsu Society member Kirk Lawson released a DVD
entitled Bartitsu - the Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes, which is a presentation of Bartitsu techniques as demonstrated at the Spring '06 Cumann Bhata Western Martial Arts
Seminar.
In October 2006, the Bartitsu Society launched the Bartitsu.org website, which includes information on the history, theory and practice of Barton-Wright's martial art, as well as current events relating to the Bartitsu revival.
In August 2009 the Bartitsu Society announced the production of a full-length documentary on E.W. Barton-Wright and his self defence arts, which was released in March of 2011. The first international Bartitsu School of Arms seminar/conference event was held in London, U.K. between August 26-28, 2011.
Articles on various aspects of Bartitsu have been published in journals including "Classical Fighting Arts", "Western Martial Arts Illustrated", "The Journal of Asian Martial Arts", "SteamPunk Magazine", "Rugged Magazine", "The Chap
", "History Today
", "de Volkskrant
" and "Clarkesworld Magazine
".
and The Shadow
had been initiated into its mysteries; the latter two characters were established as knowing baritsu in a DC Comics
crossover that spilled over into The Shadow Strikes. Baritsu has been incorporated into numerous Sherlock Holmes-inspired pastiche
novels and short stories and also into the rules of several role-playing games set during the Victorian and Edwardian eras.
The manga
and anime
series Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) and Dantarian no Shoka (The Mystic Archives of Dantalian) both feature characters who are proficient in baritsu.
Richard Ryan, the fight choreographer for the 2009 movie Sherlock Holmes
, has described the "neo-Bartitsu" developed for that project as being a combination of "Chinese Boxing (Wing Chun
), swordplay and elements of Brazilian Jujitsu." This "movie Bartitsu" was said to be a modern interpretation of the classic Victorian Bartitsu style. In a December 23, 2009 interview with Vanity Fair Magazine, director Guy Ritchie described baritsu as "... a form of Jujitsu. This is way before martial arts took off anywhere in Europe. You can actually look it up on the Internet. You’ll see these little men hitting one another with walking sticks. The idea was that you use your opponent’s strengths against them. With the use of surprise. There’s all sorts of locks and chokes and various other techniques used to incapacitate someone. There’s lots of throwing hats at someone’s eyes, and then striking at them, if you can, with a walking stick." The movie fight choreography included several signature fighting techniques from Barton-Wright's articles, including double-handed thrusts with walking sticks and the use of an overcoat to distract and entangle an adversary.
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
, author of the Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
mystery stories. Although dormant throughout most of the 20th century, Bartitsu has been experiencing a revival
Revival
Revival may refer to:*Resuscitation of a person*Language revival of an extinct language*Revival of a defunct team*Revival of a former television series*Revival of a former hit play in a new production...
since 2002.
History
In 1898, Edward William Barton-WrightEdward William Barton-Wright
Edward William Barton-Wright C.E., M.J.S. was a British entrepreneur specialising in both self defence training and physical therapy...
, a British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
who had spent the previous three years living in the Empire of Japan
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
, returned to England and announced the formation of a "New Art of Self Defence". This art, he claimed, combined the best elements of a range of fighting styles into a unified whole, which he had named Bartitsu. Barton-Wright, who had previously also studied "boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, wrestling
Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
, fencing
Fencing
Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
, savate
Savate
Savate , also known as boxe française, French boxing, French kickboxing or French footfighting, is a French martial art which uses the hands and feet as weapons combining elements of western boxing with graceful kicking techniques. Only foot kicks are allowed unlike some systems such as Muay...
and the use of the stiletto
Stiletto
A stiletto is a knife or dagger with a long slender blade and needle-like point, intended primarily as a stabbing weapon. The stiletto blade's narrow cross-section and acuminated tip reduces friction upon entry, allowing the blade to penetrate deeply...
under recognised masters", defined Bartitsu as meaning "self defence in all its forms". The word was a portmanteau of his own surname and of "Jujitsu
Jujutsu
Jujutsu , also known as jujitsu, ju-jitsu, or Japanese jiu-jitsu, is a Japanese martial art and a method of close combat for defeating an armed and armored opponent in which one uses no weapon, or only a short weapon....
".
As detailed in a series of articles Barton-Wright produced for Pearson's Magazine between 1899 and 1901, Bartitsu was largely drawn from the Shinden Fudo Ryu jujutsu of sensei
Sensei
' is a Japanese word that basically means "person born before another." In general usage, it means "master" or "teacher," and the word is used as a title to refer to or address teachers, professors, professionals such as lawyers, CPA and doctors, politicians, clergymen, and other figures of authority...
Terajima Kuniichiro (not to be confused with the SFR taijutsu
Taijutsu
is a Japanese blanket term for any combat skill, technique or system of martial art using body movements that are described as an empty-hand combat skill or system. The term is commonly used when referring to a traditional Japanese martial art but has also been used in the naming of modern martial...
associated with the Bujinkan
Bujinkan
The Bujinkan is an international martial arts organization based in Japan and headed by Masaaki Hatsumi, it is best known for its association with ninjutsu. The system taught by this group, called Bujinkan Budō Tai jutsu, consists of nine separate martial arts traditions .-Origins:Hatsumi's...
lineage) and from Kodokan judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
. As it became established in London, the art expanded to incorporate combat techniques from the Tenjin Shinyō
Tenjin Shinyo-ryu
, literally meaning "Divine True Willow School", can be classified as a traditional school of jujutsu. It was founded by Iso Mataemon Minamoto no Masatari in the 1830s...
, Fusen and Daito schools of jujutsu as well as British boxing, Swiss schwingen
Schwingen
' , also known as Swiss wrestling and natively as , is a style of folk wrestling native to Switzerland, more specifically the pre-alpine parts of German-speaking Switzerland.Wrestlers wear with belts that are used for taking holds...
, French savate and a defensive la canne
Canne de combat
Canne de combat is a French martial art. As weapon, it uses a cane or canne designed for fighting. Canne de combat was standardized in the 1970s for sporting competition by Maurice Sarry. The canne is very light, made of chestnut wood and slightly tapered...
(stick fighting
Stick fighting
Stick fighting is a generic term for martial arts which use simple long slender, blunt, hand-held, generally wooden 'sticks' for fighting such as a staff, cane, walking stick, baton or similar....
) style that had been developed by Pierre Vigny
Pierre Vigny
Pierre Vigny was a French master-at-arms who was active during the late 19th century and early 20th century. He specialised in the French savate style of martial arts and in the art of stick fighting known as La canne which he heavily modified to better suit his theories of effective self...
of Switzerland. Bartitsu also included a comprehensive physical culture
Physical culture
Physical culture is a term applied to health and strength training regimens, particularly those that originated during the 19th century. During the mid-late 20th century, the term "physical culture" became largely outmoded in most English-speaking countries, being replaced by terms such as...
training system.
In his notes for a lecture delivered to the Japan Society of London in 1901, Barton-Wright wrote:
Bartitsu Club
Between 1899 and 1902, Barton-Wright set about publicizing his art through magazine articles, interviews and a series of demonstrations or "assaults at arms" at various London venues. He established a school called the Bartitsu Academy of Arms and Physical Culture, known informally as the Bartitsu Club, which was located at 67b Shaftesbury AvenueShaftesbury Avenue
Shaftesbury Avenue is a major street in central London, England, named after Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, that runs in a north-easterly direction from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus....
in Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
. In an article for Sandow's Magazine of Physical Culture
Eugen Sandow
Eugen Sandow , born Friedrich Wilhelm Müller, was a Prussian pioneering bodybuilder in the 19th century and is often referred to as the "Father of Modern Bodybuilding".-Early life:...
vol. 6, (January 1901), journalist Mary Nugent described the Bartitsu Club as "... a huge subterranean hall, all glittering, white-tiled walls, and electric light, with 'champions' prowling around it like tigers."
Via correspondence with Professor Jigoro Kano, the founder of Kodokan Judo, and other contacts in Japan, Barton-Wright arranged for Japanese jujutsu practitioners K. Tani, S. Yamamoto and the nineteen year old Yukio Tani
Yukio Tani
was a Japanese jujutsu instructor and professional challenge wrestler.The precise details of Tani's early jujutsu training in Japan are unclear, but he is known to have studied at two Fusen-ryu dojo as well as at the "Handa School of Jiujitsu" in Osaka...
to travel to London and serve as instructors at the Bartitsu Club. K. Tani and Yamamoto soon returned to Japan, but Yukio Tani stayed and was shortly joined by another young jujutsuka, Sadakazu Uyenishi
Sadakazu Uyenishi
Sadakazu Uyenishi was amongst the first Japanese jujitsu practitioners to both teach jujitsu and to compete using the art outside of Japan.- Early years and martial arts training :...
. Swiss master-at-arms Pierre Vigny
Pierre Vigny
Pierre Vigny was a French master-at-arms who was active during the late 19th century and early 20th century. He specialised in the French savate style of martial arts and in the art of stick fighting known as La canne which he heavily modified to better suit his theories of effective self...
and wrestler Armand Cherpillod were also employed as teachers at the Club. As well as teaching well-to-do Londoners, their duties included performing demonstrations and competing in challenge matches against fighters representing other combat styles. In addition, the Club became the headquarters for a group of fencing
Fencing
Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
antiquarians led by Captain Alfred Hutton
Alfred Hutton
Alfred Hutton was a Victorian officer of the King's Dragoon Guards, antiquarian and swordsman. He originated the first English revival of historical fencing, together with his colleagues Egerton Castle, Captain Carl Thimm, Colonel Cyril Matthey, Captain Percy Rolt, Captain Ernest George Stenson...
and it served as their base for experimenting with historical fencing techniques, which they taught to members of London's acting elite for use in stage combat
Stage combat
Stage combat is a specialized technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers. It is employed in live stage plays as well as operatic and ballet productions. The term is also used informally to describe fight choreography for other...
.
In mid-1901, the curriculum of Bartitsu was further expanded to include breathing exercises under the tuition of Mrs. Emil Behnke.
As well as the combat gymnasium, the Bartitsu Club incorporated a well-appointed salon equipped with a wide range of electrotherapy
Electrotherapy
Electrotherapy is the use of electrical energy as a medical treatment In medicine, the term electrotherapy can apply to a variety of treatments, including the use of electrical devices such as deep brain stimulators for neurological disease. The term has also been applied specifically to the use of...
machines.
The Club was organised on the model of the Victorian sporting club; prospective members submitted their applications to a committee, which at one time included both Captain Alfred Hutton and Colonel George Malcolm Fox, former Inspector-General of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
's Physical Training Corps. Promoters of the Club included politicians Herbert Gladstone and Lord Alwyne Compton
Lord Alwyne Compton (politician)
Lord Alwyne Frederick Compton DL was a British Army officer who became a Liberal Unionist and then Unionist politician.-Family:...
.
Bartitsu Club membership included Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon
Cosmo Duff Gordon
Sir Cosmo Edmund Duff Gordon, 5th Baronet DL , the son of the Hon. Cosmo Lewis Duff Gordon and the former Anna Maria Antrobus, was a prominent Scottish landowner and sportsman. He was particularly noted as a fencer, representing Great Britain at the 1906 Summer Olympics, winning silver in the team...
, who was later to achieve notoriety as one of the few adult male survivors of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, as well as Captain F.C. Laing of the 12th Bengal Infantry, who subsequently wrote an article on Bartitsu stick fighting techniques which was published in the Journal of the United Service Institution of India. Other Club members included Mssrs. Marshall, Collard, Roger Noel, Percy Rolt and Captains Ernest George Stenson Cooke
Ernest Stenson-Cooke
Ernest Stenson-Cooke was a British Olympic fencer. He competed in the individual foil and épée events at the 1912 Summer Olympics.-References:...
and Frank Herbert Whittow, both also members of the London Rifle Brigade School of Arms, under the direction of Captain Hutton; and William Henry Grenfell, the 1st Baron Desborough, who was named as the Club president.
Barton-Wright later reported that, during this period, he had challenged and defeated seven larger men within three minutes as part of a Bartitsu demonstration he gave at St. James's Hall. He said this feat earned him a membership in the prestigious Bath Club and also a Royal Command to appear before Edward, Prince of Wales
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
. Unfortunately, Barton-Wright then suffered an injury to his hand, due either to a fight in a Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
ish country lane or a bicycling accident, which prevented him from appearing before the Prince.
Self defence
Barton-Wright encouraged members of the Bartitsu Club to study each of the four major hand-to-hand combat styles taught at the Club, each of which broadly corresponded to a different "range" of personal combat.The goal was to master each style well enough that they could be used against the others if needed. This process was similar to the modern concept of cross-training and it can be argued that Bartitsu itself was more in the nature of a cross-training system than a formal martial arts style.
In 1899, Barton-Wright summarised the essential principles of Bartitsu as:
- To disturb the equilibrium of your assailant.
- To surprise him before he has time to regain his balance and use his strength.
- If necessary, to subject the joints of any parts of his body, whether neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, back, knee, ankle, etc. to strains that they are anatomically and mechanically unable to resist.
Based on Barton-Wright's writings upon this subject, it is evident that Bartitsu placed greatest emphasis upon the Vigny cane fighting system at the striking range and upon jujutsu (and, secondarily, the "all-in" style of European wrestling) at the grappling range. Savate and boxing methods were used to segue
Segue
A segue is a smooth transition from one topic or section to the next.-In music:In music, segue is a direction to the performer. It means continue without a pause. It comes from the Italian "it follows". The term attacca is also used in classical music.For written music it implies a transition...
between these two ranges, or as a means of first response should the defender not be armed with a walking stick. These sports were also practiced so that Bartitsu students could learn how to defend against them through the use of jujutsu and Vigny stick fighting. Barton-Wright spoke of having modified the techniques of boxing and savate for self defence purposes, as distinct from academic and fitness training or sporting competition, referring to guards that would cause an attacking boxer to injure his own fists and to defences that would cause an attacking kicker to damage his own leg.
According to interviewer Mary Nugent, Barton-Wright instituted an unusual pedagogical system whereby students were first required to attend private training sessions before being allowed to join class groups. It is evident that Bartitsu classes included pre-arranged exercises, especially for use in rehearsing those techniques that were too dangerous to be performed at full speed or contact, as well as free-sparring and fencing bouts
Aliveness (martial arts)
Aliveness, also referred to as Alive training describes martial arts training methods that are spontaneous, non-scripted, and dynamic. Alive training is performed with the intent to challenge or defeat rather than to demonstrate...
. According to an anonymous article published in "The Sketch" of April 10, 1901, these sessions may have involved a type of circuit training
Circuit training
Circuit training is a form of conditioning combining resistance training and high-intensity aerobics. It is designed to be easy to follow and target strength building as well as muscular endurance. An exercise "circuit" is one completion of all prescribed exercises in the program. When one circuit...
in which students would rotate between small group classes taught by each of the specialist instructors.
Many Bartitsu self defence techniques and training sequences were recorded by Barton-Wright himself in his series of articles for Pearson's Magazine. The specific details of other Bartitsu stick fighting training drills were recorded in Captain Laing's article.
Decline
Despite his enthusiasm, Barton-Wright seems to have been a mediocre promoter. By March of 1902, the Bartitsu Club was no longer active as a martial arts school; wrestler and journalist Percy Longhurst subsequently suggested that both the enrollment and tuition fees had been too high. It is likely that Barton-Wright had simply over-estimated the number of wealthy Londoners who shared his interest in exotic self defence systems. It may also be significant that a major exhibition presented by members of the Bartitsu Club at St. James's Hall in December of 1901 had been badly managed. After a late start, there was confusion and then a vehement public argument about the arrangements made for refereeing a wrestling match as part of the display. The disruption was noted by several newspaper reviewers and may have contributed towards the Club's closure in early 1902.Most of Barton-Wright's former employees, including jujutsuka Yukio Tani and Sadakazu Uyenishi and Swiss self defence expert Pierre Vigny, established their own self defence and combat sports gymnasiums in London. After breaking with Barton-Wright, purportedly due to an argument and a fight, Tani also continued his work as a professional music-hall wrestler under the shrewd management of William Bankier, a strength performer and magazine publisher who went by the stage name of "Apollo". Bankier's promotional efforts helped to spur the international fad
FAD
In biochemistry, flavin adenine dinucleotide is a redox cofactor involved in several important reactions in metabolism. FAD can exist in two different redox states, which it converts between by accepting or donating electrons. The molecule consists of a riboflavin moiety bound to the phosphate...
for jujutsu that Barton-Wright had begun, and which included the publication of numerous books and magazine articles as well as the establishment of jujutsu schools throughout the Western world. This fad lasted until the beginning of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and served to introduce jujutsu into Western popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
.
Although Barton-Wright was rumoured to have continued to develop and teach his martial art at least until the 1920s, it never again returned to prominence.
"Baritsu" and Sherlock Holmes
Bartitsu might have been completely forgotten if not for a cryptic reference by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in one of his Sherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
mystery stories. In 1901 Conan Doyle had revived Holmes for a further story, The Adventure of the Empty House
The Adventure of the Empty House
"The Adventure of the Empty House", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Public pressure forced Conan Doyle to bring the sleuth back to life, and explain his...
, in which Holmes explained his victory over Professor Moriarty
Professor Moriarty
Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character and the archenemy of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the fiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, described by Holmes as the "Napoleon of Crime". Doyle lifted the phrase from a real Scotland Yard inspector who was...
in their struggle at Reichenbach Falls
Reichenbach Falls
The Reichenbach Falls are a series of waterfalls on the River Aar near Meiringen in Bern canton in central Switzerland. They have a total drop of 250 m . At 90 m , the Upper Reichenbach Falls is one of the highest cataracts in the Alps...
by the use of "baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me".
The term "baritsu" did not exist outside the pages of the English editions of The Adventure of the Empty House. It is possible that Conan Doyle, who, like E.W. Barton-Wright, was writing for Pearson’s Magazine during the late 1890s, was vaguely aware of Bartitsu and simply mis-remembered or misheard the term; it may even have been a typographical error or a concern about copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
. It should also be noted that a newspaper report on a Bartitsu demonstration in London, published in 1900, had been titled "Japanese Wrestling at the Tivoli" and likewise misspelled the name as baritsu.
Given the enormous popularity of the Sherlock Holmes stories, the fact that Homes credited his survival and victory against Moriarty to "baritsu" and the fact that E.W. Barton-Wright's martial art had quickly faded from popular memory, the confusion of names persisted through much of the 20th century. In an article for the Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual of 1958, journalist Ralph Judson correctly identified baritsu with Bartitsu, but Judson's article itself eventually became obscured. During the 1980s researchers Alan Fromm and Nicolas Soames re-affirmed the relationship between baritsu and Bartitsu and by the 1990s scholars including Yuichi Hirayama, John Hall, Richard Bowen and James Webb were able to confidently identify and document the martial art of Sherlock Holmes.
Later life
E.W. Barton-Wright spent the remainder of his career working as a physical therapist specialising in innovative (and sometimes controversial) forms of heat, light, and radiation therapyTherapy
This is a list of types of therapy .* Adventure therapy* Animal-assisted therapy* Aquatic therapy* Aromatherapy* Art and dementia* Art therapy* Authentic Movement* Behavioral therapy* Bibliotherapy* Buteyko Method* Chemotherapy...
. He continued to use the name "Bartitsu" with reference to his various therapeutic businesses. In 1950, Barton-Wright was interviewed by Gunji Koizumi
Gunji Koizumi
, known affectionately by colleagues as G.K., was a Japanese master of judo who introduced this martial art to the United Kingdom, and came to be known as the 'Father of British Judo.' He was the founder of the Budokwai, a pioneering Japanese martial arts society in England. Koizumi helped...
for an article appearing in the Budokwai
Budokwai
is the oldest Japanese martial arts club in Europe. It was founded in 1918 by Gunji Koizumi and initially offered tuition in jujutsu, kendo, and other Japanese arts. It was the first Judo club in Europe with membership open to the general public.-History:...
newsletter, and later that year he was presented to the audience at a Budokwai gathering in London. He died in 1951, at the age of 90, and was buried in what the late martial arts historian Richard Bowen described as being "a pauper's grave."
Legacy
In many ways, E.W. Barton-Wright was a man ahead of his time. He was among the first Europeans known to have studied the Japanese martial artsJapanese martial arts
Japanese martial arts refers to the enormous variety of martial arts native to Japan. At least three Japanese terms are often used interchangeably with the English phrase "Japanese martial arts": , literally meaning "martial way", , which has no perfect translation but means something like science,...
, and was almost certainly the first to have taught them in Europe, the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
or the Americas.
Bartitsu was the first martial art to have deliberately combined Asian and European fighting styles towards addressing the problems of civilian/urban self-defence
Self-defense
Self-defense, self-defence or private defense is a countermeasure that involves defending oneself, one's property or the well-being of another from physical harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in times of danger is available in many...
in an "unarmed society". In this, Barton-Wright anticipated Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee was a Chinese American, Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement...
's Jeet Kune Do
Jeet Kune Do
Jeet Kune Do is a hybrid martial arts system and life philosophy founded by martial artist Bruce Lee with direct, non classical and straightforward movements. Due to the way his style works they believe in minimal movement with maximum effect and extreme speed. The system works on the use of...
approach by over seventy years. A similar philosophy of pragmatic
Pragmaticism
Pragmaticism is a term used by Charles Sanders Peirce for his pragmatic philosophy starting in 1905, in order to distance himself and it from pragmatism, the original name, which had been used in a manner he did not approve of in the "literary journals"...
eclecticism
Eclecticism
Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories in particular cases.It can sometimes seem inelegant or...
was taken up by other early 20th century European self-defence specialists, including Percy Longhurst, William Garrud and Jean Joseph-Renaud, all of whom had studied with former Bartitsu Club instructors.
Bill Underwood
Defendo
Defendo is a martial art and self defense system created in 1945 for law enforcement by Bill Underwood, a British-born Canadian. Underwood was originally the creator of Combato a "non-boxing or wrestling" unarmed combat system which he taught in Montreal, Quebec and Toronto,...
, William E. Fairbairn
William E. Fairbairn
William Ewart Fairbairn was a British soldier, police officer and exponent of hand-to-hand combat method, the close combat, for the Shanghai Police between the world wars, and allied special forces in World War II. He developed his own fighting system known as Defendu, as well as other weapons...
and others charged with developing close combat
Close combat
*Close combat is a generic term for both Close Quarters Battle and Hand to hand combat.*Mêlée generally refers to disorganized close combat.*CQB is an acronym for Close Quarters Battle, such as that which occurs in urban warfare....
systems for use by Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
troops during the Second World War likewise devised practical, intercultural hand-to-hand combat systems. Underwood had actually studied jujutsu with Yukio Tani and another jujutsuka, Taro Miyake
Taro Miyake
Taro Miyake was a Japanese professional wrestler. In 1905 he departed Japan for London, where he famously defeated the reigning champion in the jiujitsu style, Yukio Tani. Miyake and Tani then joined forces, opening a jiujitsu school and co-authoring a book titled "The Game of Jiu-Jitsu"...
, in London during the first decade of the 20th century. The systems founded by Underwood, Fairbairn, and their contemporaries became the basis for most military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
and police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
close-combat training throughout the Western world during the 20th century.
E.W. Barton-Wright is also remembered as a pioneering promoter of mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts
Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...
or MMA contests, in which experts in different fighting styles compete under common rules. Barton-Wright's champions, including Yukio Tani, Sadakazu Uyenishi and Swiss schwingen
Schwingen
' , also known as Swiss wrestling and natively as , is a style of folk wrestling native to Switzerland, more specifically the pre-alpine parts of German-speaking Switzerland.Wrestlers wear with belts that are used for taking holds...
wrestler Armand Cherpillod enjoyed considerable success in these contests, which anticipated the MMA phenomenon of the 1990s by a hundred years.
The Bartitsu Club was among the first schools of its type in Europe to offer specialised classes in women's self defence, a practice taken up after the Club's demise by students of Yukio Tani and Sadakazu Uyenishi including Edith Margaret Garrud
Edith Margaret Garrud
Edith Margaret Garrud was among the first female professional martial arts instructors in the Western world. She is remembered for having trained the Bodyguard unit of the Women's Social and Political Union in jujutsu self defence techniques.- Early life :She was born Edith Margaret Williams in...
and Emily Watts
Emily Diana Watts
Emily Diana Watts was among the first female instructors of the Japanese art of jujitsu in the Western world. She was also an innovator in the field of physical culture....
. Mrs. Garrud established her own jujutsu dojo
Dojo
A is a Japanese term which literally means "place of the way". Initially, dōjōs were adjunct to temples. The term can refer to a formal training place for any of the Japanese do arts but typically it is considered the formal gathering place for students of any Japanese martial arts style to...
(school) in London and also taught the art to members of the militant Suffragette
Suffragette
"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...
movement, establishing an early association between self defence training and the political philosophy of feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
.
Contemporary interest and revival
In 2001, the Electronic Journals of Martial Arts and Sciences (EJMAS) web site began to re-publish many of Barton-Wright's magazine articles that had been discovered in the British LibraryBritish Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
archives by Richard Bowen. Almost immediately, the "Self Defence with a Walking Stick" articles attracted a minor cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
following and the illustrations were reproduced, often with humorous captions or other alterations, on a number of other sites. Also in that year, Bartitsu stick fighting demonstrations were added to the educational displays performed at the Royal Armouries
Royal Armouries
The Royal Armouries is the United Kingdom's National Museum of Arms and Armour. It is the United Kingdom's oldest museum, and one of the oldest museums in the world. It is also one of the largest collections of arms and armour in the world, comprising the UK's National Collection of Arms and...
in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, U.K.
In 2002, an international association of Bartitsu enthusiasts, known as the Bartitsu Society, was formed to research and then revive E.W. Barton-Wright's "New Art of Self Defence". The Society approaches Bartitsu research and training via two related fields, those of canonical
Canonical
Canonical is an adjective derived from canon. Canon comes from the greek word κανών kanon, "rule" or "measuring stick" , and is used in various meanings....
Bartitsu (the self-defense sequences that were detailed by Barton-Wright and his associates between 1899–1902) and neo-Bartitsu (modern, individualised interpretations drawing from the canon but reinforced by the training manuals produced by former Bartitsu Club instructors and their students between 1899 and the early 1920s).
The modern revival aims to both preserve what is known of the canonical syllabus and to continue Barton-Wright's experiments in cross-training/testing between (kick)boxing, jiujitsu and stick fighting as they were practiced circa 1901, on the premise that these experiments were left as a work in progress
Work in progress
Work in progress may refer to:-Film:* A Work in Progress, a documentary film of the recording of Rush's Test for Echo album* Work in Progress , a computer-animated short film-Music:* Work in Progress , by Man Alive...
when the original Bartitsu Club closed down. Thus, the revival is considered to be a deliberately anachronistic, collaborative, open-ended and open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
project.
Associated interests include the study of the martial arts as Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
and Edwardian social history
Social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...
. The Bartitsu Society communicates via an email group established by author Will Thomas
Will Thomas
Will Thomas, born 1958 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is a novelist who writes a Victorian mystery series featuring Cyrus Barker, a Scottish detective or "private enquiry agent," and his Welsh assistant, Thomas Llewelyn. The Barker/Llewelyn novels are set in the 1880s and often feature historical...
and individual members offer practical seminars and training courses in Bartitsu fighting techniques.
From 2003 onwards, members of the Bartitsu Society began to teach seminar courses in various aspects of the art at stage combat
Stage combat
Stage combat is a specialized technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers. It is employed in live stage plays as well as operatic and ballet productions. The term is also used informally to describe fight choreography for other...
and martial arts conferences throughout the world. Inspired and guided by the Bartitsu Society and the two compendia, Bartitsu training programs have since been launched at the Cumann Bhata Dayton, the Vancouver-based Academie Duello, at the Alte Kampfkunst in Wuppertal, Germany, and at Briercrest College and Seminary in Caronport, Saskatchewan amongst numerous other locations.
In August 2005, the Society published a book, The Bartitsu Compendium, which was edited by Tony Wolf. The Compendium details the complete history of the art as well as a technical curriculum for canonical Bartitsu. The second volume (August 2008) comprises resources for neo-Bartitsu drawn both from Barton-Wright's own writings and from the self defence manuals produced by his colleagues and their students, including Yukio Tani, William Garrud, H.G. Lang and Jean Joseph Renaud. Proceeds from the sales of the Bartitsu Compendium, the Bartitsu Compendium II, and the Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes DVD have been dedicated to creating a memorial for E.W. Barton-Wright and to furthering the revival of Bartitsu.
In September 2006, Bartitsu Society member Kirk Lawson released a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
entitled Bartitsu - the Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes, which is a presentation of Bartitsu techniques as demonstrated at the Spring '06 Cumann Bhata Western Martial Arts
Western Martial Arts
Western Martial Arts refers to formalized fighting techniques and skills of European or generally Western origin, as distinct from those originating in Asia....
Seminar.
In October 2006, the Bartitsu Society launched the Bartitsu.org website, which includes information on the history, theory and practice of Barton-Wright's martial art, as well as current events relating to the Bartitsu revival.
In August 2009 the Bartitsu Society announced the production of a full-length documentary on E.W. Barton-Wright and his self defence arts, which was released in March of 2011. The first international Bartitsu School of Arms seminar/conference event was held in London, U.K. between August 26-28, 2011.
Articles on various aspects of Bartitsu have been published in journals including "Classical Fighting Arts", "Western Martial Arts Illustrated", "The Journal of Asian Martial Arts", "SteamPunk Magazine", "Rugged Magazine", "The Chap
The Chap
The Chap is a British magazine published six times a year and related books edited by Gustav Temple, proposing a return to a dandified way of life, involving tweed, pipe smoking, brogues and finely pressed trousers. The magazine has featured such noted Chaps and Chapettes as Stephen Fry, Leslie...
", "History Today
History Today
History Today is an illustrated history magazine. Published monthly in London since January 1951, it is the world's leading, and possibly oldest, history magazine. Its successful mission has always been to present serious and authoritative history to as wide a public as possible...
", "de Volkskrant
De Volkskrant
de Volkskrant is a national daily Dutch morning newspaper, the leading centre-left broadsheet, although now in tabloid size.-History:...
" and "Clarkesworld Magazine
Clarkesworld Magazine
Clarkesworld Magazine is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine. The first issue was published October 1, 2006 and it has maintained a regular monthly schedule since, publishing fiction by authors such as Sarah Monette, Catherynne Valente, Elizabeth Bear, Caitlin R...
".
"Baritsu" in popular culture
Conan Doyle's "baritsu" developed a life of its own during the latter 20th century, and it was duly recorded that fictional heroes including Doc SavageDoc Savage
Doc Savage is a fictional character originally published in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. He was created by publisher Henry W. Ralston and editor John L...
and The Shadow
The Shadow
The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crime-fighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town"...
had been initiated into its mysteries; the latter two characters were established as knowing baritsu in a DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
crossover that spilled over into The Shadow Strikes. Baritsu has been incorporated into numerous Sherlock Holmes-inspired pastiche
Pastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
novels and short stories and also into the rules of several role-playing games set during the Victorian and Edwardian eras.
The manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) and Dantarian no Shoka (The Mystic Archives of Dantalian) both feature characters who are proficient in baritsu.
Richard Ryan, the fight choreographer for the 2009 movie Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes (2009 film)
Sherlock Holmes is a 2009 action-mystery film based on the character of the same name created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The film was directed by Guy Ritchie and produced by Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, Susan Downey and Dan Lin. The screenplay by Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham and Simon...
, has described the "neo-Bartitsu" developed for that project as being a combination of "Chinese Boxing (Wing Chun
Wing Chun
Wing Chun , also romanised as Ving Tsun or Wing Tsun, ; ; is a concept-based Chinese martial art and form of self-defense utilizing both striking and grappling while specializing in close-range combat.The alternative characters 永春 "eternal spring" are also...
), swordplay and elements of Brazilian Jujitsu." This "movie Bartitsu" was said to be a modern interpretation of the classic Victorian Bartitsu style. In a December 23, 2009 interview with Vanity Fair Magazine, director Guy Ritchie described baritsu as "... a form of Jujitsu. This is way before martial arts took off anywhere in Europe. You can actually look it up on the Internet. You’ll see these little men hitting one another with walking sticks. The idea was that you use your opponent’s strengths against them. With the use of surprise. There’s all sorts of locks and chokes and various other techniques used to incapacitate someone. There’s lots of throwing hats at someone’s eyes, and then striking at them, if you can, with a walking stick." The movie fight choreography included several signature fighting techniques from Barton-Wright's articles, including double-handed thrusts with walking sticks and the use of an overcoat to distract and entangle an adversary.
External links
- Bartitsu Society
- Bartitsu at Fullcontactmartialarts.org
- The Bartitsu Club of NYC study group based in New York, NY