Bartitsu is an

eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...

martial art Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...

and

self-defence Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force ...

method originally developed in England in 1898–1902, combining elements of boxing, jujitsu, cane fighting and French kickboxing (

savate Savate (), also known as boxe française, savate boxing, French boxing or French footfighting, is a French kickboxing combat sport that uses the hands and feet as weapons combining elements of English boxing with graceful kicking techniques. ...

). In 1903, it was immortalised (as "

baritsu Baritsu is the name given to a form of martial art described by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the 1903 Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Empty House", the first of ''The Return of Sherlock Holmes''. Baritsu was used to explain how Holmes had ...

") by Sir

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

, author of the

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

mystery stories. Although dormant throughout most of the 20th century, Bartitsu has experienced a revival since 2002.

History

In 1898,

Edward William Barton-Wright Edward William Barton-Wright CE, FRSA, MJS (member of the Japan Society) (8 November 186013 September 1951) was an English entrepreneur specialising in both self defence training and physical therapy. He is remembered today as one of the fir ...

, an English

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

who had spent the previous three years living in 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 had previously also studied "

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat s ...

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, ...

and the use of the stiletto under recognised masters", reportedly testing his skills by "engaging toughs (street fighters) until (he) was satisfied in their application." He defined ''Bartitsu'' (ばちつ) as meaning "self defence in all its forms"; the word was a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsJujitsu". As detailed in a series of articles Barton-Wright produced for ''

Pearson's Magazine ''Pearson's Magazine'' was a monthly periodical that first appeared in Britain in 1896. A US version began publication in 1899. It specialised in speculative literature, political discussion, often of a socialist bent, and the arts. Its contribut ...

'' between 1899 and 1901, Bartitsu was largely drawn from the Shinden Fudo Ryu jujutsu of Terajima Kunichiro (not to be confused with the SFR

taijutsu is a Japanese martial art 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. Taijutsu is a synonym for Jujutsu (method of unarmed or with minor ...

associated with the

Bujinkan The is an international martial arts organization based in Japan and headed by Masaaki Hatsumi. The combat system taught by this organization comprises nine separate ryūha, or schools, which are collectively referred to as ''Bujinkan Budō Ta ...

lineage) and from

Kodokan judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

. As it became established in London, the art expanded to incorporate combat techniques from other jujutsu styles as well as from British boxing, Swiss

schwingen (from German ' "to swing"), also known as Swiss wrestling (French ') and natively (and colloquially) as ' (Swiss German for "breeches-lifting"), is a style of folk wrestling native to Switzerland, more specifically the pre-alpine parts of Germ ...

, French savate and a defensive canne de combat (

stick fighting Stick-fighting, stickfighting, or stick fighting is a variety of martial arts which use simple long, slender, blunt, hand-held, generally wooden "sticks" for fighting, such as a gun staff, bō, jō, walking stick, baston, arnis sticks or similar ...

) style that had been developed by

Pierre Vigny Pierre Vigny was a French Master-at-arms (born in Taninges, Haute-Savoie in 1866) who was active during the late 19th century and early 20th century. He specialised in French savate and in the art of stick fighting known as canne de combat, which ...

of Switzerland. Bartitsu also included a comprehensive

physical culture Physical culture, also known as Body culture, is a health and strength training movement that originated during the 19th century in Germany, the UK and the US. Origins The physical culture movement in the United States during the 19th century ...

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 publicising his art through magazine articles, interviews and a series of demonstrations or "assaults at arms" at various London venues. He established the Bartitsu Academy of Arms and Physical Culture, known as the Bartitsu Club, which was located at 67b

Shaftesbury Avenue Shaftesbury Avenue is a major road in the West End of London, named after The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. It runs north-easterly from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus. From Piccadilly ...

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was deve ...

. 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 Kaneo Tani, Seizo Yamamoto and the nineteen-year-old

Yukio Tani was a pioneering Japanese jujutsu and judo instructor and professional challenge wrestler, notable for being one of the first jujutsu stylists to teach and compete outside of Japan. Biography The precise details of Tani's early jujutsu trainin ...

to travel to London and serve as instructors at the Bartitsu Club. Kaneo 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

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

antiquarians An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifacts, archaeological and historic sit ...

led by Captain Alfred Hutton and it served as their base for experimenting with

historical fencing Historical European martial arts (HEMA) are martial arts of European origin, particularly using arts formerly practised, but having since died out or evolved into very different forms. While there is limited surviving documentation of the martia ...

techniques, which they taught to members of London's acting elite for use in

stage combat Stage combat, fight craft or fight choreography is a specialised 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 p ...

. It is likely that the actors Esme Beringer and Charles Sefton, as well as fencer Archibald Corble, were among Hutton's historical fencing students at the Bartitsu Club. In mid-1901, the curriculum of Bartitsu was further expanded to include breathing exercises under the tuition of Kate Behnke. As well as the combat gymnasium, the Bartitsu Club incorporated a well-appointed salon equipped with a wide range of

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 dis ...

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 Alfred Hutton FSA (10 March 1839 – 18 December 1910) was a Victorian officer of the King's Dragoon Guards, writer, antiquarian, and swordsman. He originated the first English revival of historical fencing, together with his colleagues Egerto ...

and Colonel George Malcolm Fox, former Inspector-General of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

's Physical Training Corps. Promoters of the Club included politicians

Herbert Gladstone Herbert John Gladstone, 1st Viscount Gladstone, (7 January 1854 – 6 March 1930) was a British Liberal politician. The youngest son of William Ewart Gladstone, he was Home Secretary from 1905 to 1910 and Governor-General of the Union of South ...

and Lord Alwyne Compton. Bartitsu Club membership included Sir

Cosmo Duff Gordon Sir Cosmo Edmund Duff-Gordon, 5th Baronet, DL (22 July 1862 – 20 April 1931) was a prominent Englishman and sportsman who owned land in Scotland, best known for the controversy surrounding his escape from the sinking of the RMS ''Tita ...

, who was later one of the few adult male survivors of the sinking of the , 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 members included expatriate French fencing master and journalist Anatole Paroissien and messrs. Marshall, Collard, Marchant, Roger Noel, Percy Rolt, Lieutenant Glossop 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 The Bath Club was a sports-themed London gentlemen's club in the 20th century. It was established in 1894 at 34 Dover Street. Its swimming pool was a noted feature, and it is thought that the swimming pool of the fictional Drones Club (also on D ...

and also a Royal Command to appear before Edward, Prince of Wales. Barton-Wright then suffered an injury to his hand, due either to a fight in a

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

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. 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 A segue (; ) is a smooth transition from one topic or section to the next. The term is derived from Italian ''segue'', which literally means "follows". In music In music, ''segue'' is a direction to the performer. It means ''continue (the next ...

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 practised so that Bartitsu students could learn how to defend against them through the use of jujutsu and Vigny stick fighting. The stick fighting component was based on the two fundamental tactics of either feinting/striking pre-emptively or "baiting" the opponent's strike via a position of invitation. Fighting from the style's characteristic high- and double-handed guard positions, stick strikes and thrusts targeted the opponent's face and head, throat, elbows, hands and wrists, solar plexus, knees and shins. The Bartitsu stick fighter would often incorporate close combat techniques such as trips, throws and takedowns, which probably represent a fusion of the Vigny stick system with jujutsu. 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. Thus, the tactics of the unarmed Bartitsu practitioner were to mount an aggressive defence, employing damaging variations of standard boxing and savate guards, and then to finish the fight with jujutsu, which Barton-Wright evidently viewed as a type of secret weapon during an era in which his Shaftesbury Avenue academy was the only place in England where it could be learned. 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 Circuit training is a form of body conditioning that involves endurance training, resistance training, high-intensity aerobics, and exercises performed in a circuit, similar to high-intensity interval training. It targets strength building and mu ...

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.'' Pearson's, March 1899 Pearson's, April 1899 Pearson's, February 1901 The specific details of other Bartitsu stick fighting training drills were recorded in Captain Laing's article.

Decline

By mid-1902, the Bartitsu Club was no longer active as a martial arts school. The precise reasons for the Club's closure are unknown, but jujutsu instructor William Garrud subsequently suggested that both the enrolment fees and tuition fees had been too high. It is likely that Barton-Wright had simply overestimated the number of wealthy Londoners who shared his interest in exotic self-defence systems. The last recorded activities of the Bartitsu Club as an entity involved a series of touring exhibitions and contests at venues including

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, the

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Town Hall, the

Shorncliffe Army Camp Shorncliffe Army Camp is a large military camp near Cheriton in Kent. Established in 1794, it later served as a staging post for troops destined for the Western Front during the First World War. History The camp was established in 1794 when ...

base in Kent, the Mechanics Institute Hall in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

and the Adelphi Theatre in

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between January–April 1902. Subsequently, 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 Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in ...

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 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and served to introduce Japanese martial arts into Western

popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

, but Bartitsu per se never again returned to prominence during Barton-Wright's lifetime.

"Baritsu" and Sherlock Holmes

Bartitsu might have been completely forgotten if not for a cryptic reference by

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for '' A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

in one of his

mystery stories. In 1903 Conan Doyle had revived Holmes for a further story, "

The Adventure of the Empty House "The Adventure of the Empty House", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as ''The Return of Sherlock Holmes''. It was first published in ''Collier's'' in the ...

", in which Holmes explained his victory over

Professor Moriarty Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character and criminal mastermind created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to be a formidable enemy for the author's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. He was created primarily as a device by which Doyle coul ...

in their struggle at

Reichenbach Falls The Reichenbach Falls (german: Reichenbachfälle) are a waterfall cascade of seven steps on the stream called Rychenbach in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. They drop over a total height of about . At , the upper falls, known as t ...

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" and a 1901 ''Times'' report titled "Japanese Wrestling at the Tivoli", which covered a Bartitsu demonstration in London but misspelled the name as ''baritsu''. It is likely that Conan Doyle used the 1901 London ''Times'' article as source material, copying the "baritsu" misspelling verbatim, particularly in that he had Holmes define "baritsu" as "Japanese wrestling", which was the same phrase used in the newspaper headline. Given the popularity of the Sherlock Holmes stories, the fact that Holmes credited his survival and victory against Moriarty to "''baritsu''", and the fact that E.W. Barton-Wright's martial art and, with it, its name's proper spelling 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 ''The Baker Street Journal'' is a quarterly journal devoted to Sherlockiana published by The Baker Street Irregulars. Leslie S. Klinger has called it "the leading publication" in the study of Sherlock Holmes. History After the formation of The ...

'' Christmas Annual of 1958, journalist Ralph Judson correctly identified baritsu with Bartitsu, but Judson's article 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

therapy A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. As a rule, each therapy has indications and contraindications. There are many differe ...

. He continued to use the name "Bartitsu" with reference to his various therapeutic businesses. In 1950, he was interviewed by

Gunji Koizumi , known affectionately by colleagues as G.K., was a Japanese Grandmaster (martial arts), master of judo who introduced this martial art to the United Kingdom,

for an article appearing in the

Budokwai in London is the oldest Japanese martial arts club in Europe.Budokwai: The history ...

newsletter, and later that year he was presented to the audience at a Budokwai gathering in London as "the pioneer of jiujitsu in Great Britain". He died in 1951, at the age of 90, and was buried in what the martial arts historian Richard Bowen described as "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 arts Japanese martial arts refers to the variety of martial arts native to the country of Japan. At least three Japanese terms (''budō'', ''bujutsu'', and ''bugei'') are used interchangeably with the English phrase Japanese martial arts. The usage ...

, and was almost certainly the first to have taught them in Europe, the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

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

in an "unarmed society". In this, Barton-Wright anticipated

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines th ...

Jeet Kune Do Jeet Kune Do is a primarily wing chun kung fu inspired eclectic martial arts philosophy heavily influenced and adapted by the Taoist personal life philosophy and experiences of martial artist Bruce Lee. Overview and philosophy Jeet Kune Do ...

approach by over seventy years. A similar philosophy of

pragmatic Pragmatism is a philosophical movement. Pragmatism or pragmatic may also refer to: *Pragmaticism, Charles Sanders Peirce's post-1905 branch of philosophy * Pragmatics, a subfield of linguistics and semiotics *'' Pragmatics'', an academic journal i ...

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 i ...

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. In 1906, Renaud introduced a similar concept in France named "Défense Dans la Rue" in order to fight the increase of street violence at the time. This art was a mixture of boxing, savate and jiu-jitsu inherited from bartitsu, and was broadened by contemporary authors like Émile André and George Dubois, who had been influenced by

master-at-arms A Master-at-Arms (US: MA; UK & some Commonwealth: MAA) may be a naval rating, responsible for law enforcement, regulating duties, security, anti-terrorism/force protection (AT/FP) for/of a country's navy; an army officer responsible for physical ...

Joseph Charlemont. In the 1920s,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian physical culture teacher Mario Aleixo published an article for the ''Eu Sei Tudo'' magazine about his "Defesa Pessoal", which mixed

capoeira Capoeira () is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics, music and spirituality. Born of the melting pot of enslaved Africans, Indigenous Brazilians and Portuguese influences at the beginning of the 16th cent ...

, jiu-jitsu, boxing,

Greco-Roman wrestling Greco-Roman (American English), Graeco-Roman (British English), classic wrestling ( Euro English) or French wrestling (in Russia until 1948) is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first mo ...

and jogo do pau. Barton-Wright's illustrated article series for ''Pearson's Magazine'' popularised self-defence features in newspapers and magazines, which had previously been rare but which became commonplace during the first decade of the 20th century. E.W. Barton-Wright is also remembered as a pioneering promoter of

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incor ...

or MMA contests, in which experts in different fighting styles compete under common rules. Barton-Wright's champions, including

, Sadakazu Uyenishi and Swiss ''

'' 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 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 A is a hall or place for immersive learning or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts, but has been seen increasingly in other fields, such as meditation and software development. The term literally means "place of the ...

(school) in London and also taught the art to members of the militant

Suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to member ...

movement, including the clandestine "Bodyguard" unit of the

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership an ...

, establishing an early association between self-defence training and the political philosophy of

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

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 Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

archives by Richard Bowen. Almost immediately, the "Self Defence with a Walking Stick" articles attracted a minor

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. Thi ...

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 The Royal Armouries is the United Kingdom's national collection of arms and armour. Originally an important part of England's military organization, it became the United Kingdom's oldest museum, originally housed in the Tower of London from ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

, 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

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

ical Bartitsu (the self-defence sequences that were detailed by Barton-Wright and his associates 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

experiment An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

s 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 process (WIP), work in progress (WIP), goods in process, or in-process inventory refers to a company's partially finished goods waiting for completion and eventual sale, or the value of these items. The term is used in supply chain managem ...

when the original Bartitsu Club closed down. Thus, the revival is considered to be a deliberately

anachronistic An anachronism (from the Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common type ...

, collaborative, open-ended and

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized so ...

project. Associated interests include the study of the martial arts as Victorian and

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

social history Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...

. Between 2002-2019 the Bartitsu Society communicated via an email group established by author Will Thomas. From 2003 onwards, members of the Bartitsu Society began to teach seminar courses in various aspects of the art at

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, Briercrest College and Seminary in Caronport, Saskatchewan and at Forteza Fitness and Martial Arts (Ravenswood, Chicago) 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. A third volume of the ''Bartitsu Compendium'' was published in December of 2022, marking the 120th anniversary of the closing of the original Bartitsu Club and the 20th anniversary of the modern revival movement. Subheaded "What Bartitsu Was and What It Can Be", this volume includes an authoritative social history of Bartitsu and anthology of historical articles as well as a technical section highlighting the stylistically unique aspects of Bartitsu as a martial art. 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 Historical European martial arts (HEMA) are martial arts of European origin, particularly using arts formerly practised, but having since died out or evolved into very different forms. While there is limited surviving documentation of the martia ...

Seminar. In October 2006, the Bartitsu Society launched the Bartitsu.org website, which included information on the history, theory and practice of Barton-Wright's martial art, as well as current events relating to the Bartitsu revival. In 2019 the site suffered a catastrophic technical failure and it was revived in January of 2021 a
BartitsuSociety.com
In 2010, a seminar tour was arranged to raise awareness of Bartitsu. Tony Wolf taught consecutive seminars on the West Coast of the US starting in California and moving to Northwest Fencing Academy and then Academia Duellatoria in Oregon. Seminars were then hosted by the School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts in Seattle, Washington and at Academie Duello in Vancouver, British Columbia. 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 2011. The first international Bartitsu School of Arms seminar/conference event was held in London, U.K. between August 26–28, 2011 and the second event was held in Chicago, between 7–9 September 2012. In 2017, Bartitsu came to the attention of a martial arts instructor in

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it o ...

. After researching the combat laboratory methods used by the founder and his instructors to add more defence tactics and skills incorporating more ground defence, additional self-defence moves, and basic knife tactics and defences, he took on his first student. He then founded an academy, christened "Neo-Bartitsu Columbus", in 2019 and began offering weekly classes through Bishop's TaeKwonDo Plus. In the UK, Sensei Tommy Moore runs the Bartitsu Lab. This Bartitsu club aims to bring together the best of the combat sports and self defence focuses of Bartitsu as part of a modern holistic approach. 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'', ''Breaking Muscle'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', ''

The Chap ''The Chap'' is a British humorous men's lifestyle magazine published quarterly. It was founded in 1999 by Gustav Temple and Vic Darkwood, and is still edited by Temple. The magazine proposes that men everywhere return to a more gentlemanly wa ...

'', ''

History Today ''History Today'' is an illustrated history magazine. Published monthly in London since January 1951, it presents serious and authoritative history to as wide a public as possible. The magazine covers all periods and geographical regions and pub ...

'', ''

de Volkskrant ''de Volkskrant'' (; ''The People's Paper'') is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium-sized c ...

'', ''New City'', ''His Vintage Life'', the ''Epoch Times'', '' Ozy Media'' and ''

Clarkesworld Magazine ''Clarkesworld Magazine'' (ISSN 1937-7843) is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine. It released its first issue October 1, 2006 and has maintained a regular monthly schedule since, publishing fiction by authors such as Elizabe ...

''. The art has also been showcased on British television in ''

The One Show ''The One Show'' is a British television magazine and chat show programme. Broadcast live on BBC One weeknights at 7:00 pm, it features topical stories and studio guests. It is currently co-hosted by Alex Jones, Jermaine Jenas, and Ronan ...

'', ''

Sunday Brunch ''Sunday Brunch'' is a British television programme presented by Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer. It is broadcast live on Channel 4 on Sunday mornings and features cookery and interviews with celebrity guests. Format The programme began on 25 ...

'' and in ''Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting: the Rise of the Martial Arts in Britain'', an episode of the Timeshift documentary series on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

2011 documentary

''Bartitsu: The Lost Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes'' (2011) is a

feature-length A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

documentary detailing the history, decline and modern revival of Bartitsu, with particular reference to its association with Sherlock Holmes. Host Tony Wolf travels between locations in Europe including the Swiss

and the adjacent town of

Meiringen Meiringen () is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Besides the village of Meiringen, the municipality includes the settlements of Balm, Brünigen, Eisenbolgen, Hausen, Prasti, ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Haltwhistle Haltwhistle is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, east of Brampton. It had a population of 3,811 at the 2011 Census. Stone-built houses are a feature of Haltwhistle. It is one of two settlements in Great Britain which c ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and

Amantea Amantea ( Calabrian: ; ) is a town, former bishopric, ''comune'' (municipality) and Latin Catholic titular see in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. It is the twentieth municipality in the region by population, while f ...

, explaining the origins and heyday of Bartitsu via narration, animated graphics, re-enactments, archival

photographs A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now created ...

and

interviews An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" r ...

. Interviewees include authors Will Thomas and

Neal Stephenson Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, postcyberpunk, and baroque. Stephenson's work e ...

as well as martial arts historians Mark Donnelly, Emelyne Godfrey, Harry Cook and Graham Noble. Major themes include the development of Bartitsu as a confluence of

interests in

Orientalism In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...

and

criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and s ...

; the use of jujitsu by the Bodyguards of the radical

movement in London and subsequent spread of

through Western

; personality profiles of Barton-Wright himself and the other principal figures of the original Bartitsu craze; and the connection between Bartitsu and Sherlock Holmes'

. Additional footage shot in Italy and the United States illustrates the modern revival of Bartitsu as a recreational

Bartitsu and "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 Savage Doc Savage is a fictional character of the competent man hero type, who first appeared in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. Real name Clark Savage Jr., he is a doctor, scientist, adventurer, detective, and polymath who "rights w ...

and

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...

had been initiated into its mysteries; the latter two characters were established as knowing baritsu in a

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

crossover that spilled over into ''The Shadow Strikes''. Baritsu has been incorporated into numerous Sherlock Holmes-inspired

pastiche A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking i ...

novels and short stories and also into the rules of several

role-playing games A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...

set during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

and

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series Kuroshitsuji (''

Black Butler is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yana Toboso. It has been serialized in Square Enix's ''shōnen'' manga magazine '' Monthly GFantasy'' since September 2006. The series follows Ciel Phantomhive, the twelve-year-ol ...

''), Dantarian no Shoka (''

The Mystic Archives of Dantalian is a Japanese light novel series written by Gakuto Mikumo and illustrated by G-Yuusuke. The series started serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's light novel magazine The Sneaker on February 29, 2008. A manga adaptation by Chako Abeno started ...

'') and ''

Kengan Ashura is a Japanese manga series written by Yabako Sandrovich and illustrated by Daromeon. It was serialized on Shogakukan's ''Ura Sunday'' website from April 2012 to August 2018, with its chapters compiled into twenty-seven ''tankōbon'' volumes. ...

'' all feature characters who are proficient in baritsu. Cyrus Barker, the protagonist of novelist Will Thomas' ''Barker and Llewellyn'' mystery series, is partly inspired by E.W. Barton-Wright, as is the villainous Sir Callum Fielding-Shaw in

Adrienne Kress Adrienne Kress is a Canadian author and actress. Career Adrienne Kress is the author of the internationally published and award-winning children's novels ''Alex and the Ironic Gentleman (Selected by the New York Post as one of its post Harry Pot ...

' young adult novel ''The Friday Society''. Richard Ryan, the fight choreographer for the 2009 movie ''

'', has described the "neo-Bartitsu" developed for that project as being a combination of "Chinese Boxing (

Wing Chun Wing Chun (Chinese: 詠春 or 咏春, lit. "singing spring"), sometimes spelled Ving Tsun, is a concept-based fighting art, form of Southern Chinese kung fu and close-quarters system of self-defense. In Mandarin, it is pronounced "Yong 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 23 December 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. The fight choreography for the 2011 sequel, '' Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows'' bore an even closer resemblance to historical Bartitsu. In the DVD commentary for "

A Scandal in Belgravia "A Scandal in Belgravia" is the first episode of the second series of the BBC crime drama series '' Sherlock'', which follows the modern-day adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and was first broadcast by BBC One on 1 January 2012. It was written by ...

" (episode one of the second season of the BBC TV series '' Sherlock''), writer

Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss (; born 17 October 1966) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. His work includes writing for and acting in the television series '' Doctor Who'', '' Sherlock'', and '' Dracula''. Together with ...

describes a framed glass sign above the title character's bed as showing "the rules of baritsu, the Japanese martial art which got Holmes out of the situation at the Reichenbach Falls in 'The Final Problem'." In fact, the prop sign is a framed Kodokan judo black belt certificate. In the first episode of the third season, Sherlock Holmes alludes to a "system of Japanese wrestling" as the second of thirteen scenarios that might have allowed him to survive his rooftop encounter with Moriarty.

Aiden English Matthew Thomas Rehwoldt (born October 7, 1987) is an American color commentator and retired professional wrestler who currently appears in Impact Wrestling where he performs under his real name. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he per ...

and

Simon Gotch Seth Lesser (born October 18, 1982) is an American professional wrestler better known by the ring name Simon Gotch. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he held the NXT Tag Team Championship as one-half of The Vaudevillains along with A ...

, known collectively as

The Vaudevillains The Vaudevillains were an American professional wrestling tag team in WWE, composed of Aiden English and Simon Gotch. Their gimmick was a pair of Vaudeville-era throwbacks. They also wrestled in WWE's developmental territory NXT, where they wer ...

, are professional wrestlers signed to

NXT NXT may refer to: Professional wrestling * ''WWE NXT'', a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that began in 2010 ** NXT (WWE brand), WWE's Florida-based brand and former developmental territory * ''NXT UK'', the British spin- ...

and WWE who incorporate Bartitsu, or "Victorian Era Martial Arts" as some announcers have described, into their wrestling style mainly with stances and selective attacks. They espouse a gimmick of wrestlers from the early 20th century such as

Karl Gotch Charles Istaz (August 3, 1924 – July 28, 2007) was a Belgian-born German-American professional wrestler and trainer, best known by his ring name Karl Gotch. In Japan, Gotch was known as the "God of Wrestling" due to his influence in shaping the ...

. In the film '' Kingsman: The Secret Service'', Harry Hart/Galahad (

Colin Firth Colin Andrew Firth (born 10 September 1960) is an English actor and producer. He was identified in the mid-1980s with the " Brit Pack" of rising young British actors, undertaking a challenging series of roles, including leading roles in '' A M ...

) uses elements of Bartitsu during the pub fight.

Essays by Barton-Wright

* * * *

References

External links

Bartitsu Society

– a study group based in New York, NY
The Bartitsu Club
- a Bartitsu resource site {{Martial arts European martial arts Hybrid martial arts