Bartitsu is an eclectic martial art and self-defence method originally developed in England in 1898–1902, combining elements of boxing, jujutsu, cane-fighting, and savate. In 1903, it was immortalised (mistakenly as "baritsu") by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes mystery stories. Dormant throughout most of the 20th century, Bartitsu has experienced a revival since 2002.
History
In 1898, Edward William Barton-Wright, an English engineer who had spent the previous three years living in Japan, where he became one of the first Europeans known to have studied jujitsu, 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, wrestling, fencing, savate, 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 (バーティツ) as meaning "self defence in all its forms"; the word was a blend 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 Terajima Kunichiro (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 other jujutsu styles as well as from British boxing, Swiss schwingen, French savate and a defensive canne de combat (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:
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 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 Kaneo Tani, Seizo Yamamoto and the nineteen-year-old Yukio Tani 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 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.
Tani, Uyenishi and Cherpillod fought in many such challenges on the music hall wrestling circuit and the facility with which the Japanese athletes were consistently able to defeat much larger and stronger adversaries quickly established the efficacy of jujutsu as a fighting style. Some critics, however, complained that jujutsu's submission rules were "unsporting" because they allowed unfamiliar techniques such as choke holds and joint locks, which were banned in European wrestling styles.
In addition, the Bartitsu 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. 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 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 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 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 Kentish 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, though it did include some unique elements (see below).
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 practised 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. 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. This fusion of aggressive boxing/savate defences with jujutsu was an innovation of Bartitsu as a martial art
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 - assumed so as to make it more difficult for an opponent to "snipe" the weapon-wielding hand - 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, representing a fusion of the Vigny stick system with jujutsu, which was unique to Bartitsu as a system.
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.Pearson's, March 1899Pearson's, April 1899Pearson'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 enrollment 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, the Oxford Town Hall, the Shorncliffe Army Camp base in Kent, the Mechanics Institute Hall in Nottingham and the Adelphi Theatre in Liverpool 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 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 Japanese martial arts into Western popular culture, but Bartitsu per se never again returned to prominence during Barton-Wright's lifetime.
"Baritsu" and Sherlock Holmes