Although Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do is recognised as having revolutionized the modern martial arts scene, very few people realize that over one hundred years ago, an English martial artist as promoting a system with strong parallels to the JKD philosophy. Edward William Barton-Wright, who had learned the basics of jiujitsu while working as a railway engineer and surveyor in Japan, was the founder of this eclectic MA system.
Upon his return to London, Barton-Wright, who was an enthusiastic
promoter and entrepreneur, wrote several magazine articles extolling
the "New Art of Self Defence." He also arranged for several Japanese
jiujitsu instructors to travel to London and exhibit their art at the
Tivoli, the Empress and other theatres.
Barton-Wright was also the first Englishman to devise his own style of
self defence by combining what he felt to be the best of Asian and European methods. The resulting system was named "Bartitsu", a portmanteau of his own
surname and of "jiujitsu". This art comprised an effective fusion of
Japanese wrestling and a unique system of self defence with a walking
stick, as devised by a Swiss master-at-arms named Pierre Vigny.
Training in English boxing and in French savate (kickboxing) rounded
out Bartitsu's international arsenal.
In early 1900, the Bartitsu Club opened its doors to a curious public.
It was located in the basement of the building that presently houses
the Best Western Shaftesbury Hotel. Journalist Mary Nugent, who
interviewed Barton-Wright for her article "Barton-Wright and his
Japanese Wrestlers" in 1901, described the Club as "a great
subterranean hall, all white-tiled walls and electric lights, with
champions prowling around it like tigers".
Barton-Wright's roster of "champions" included savate and stick
fighting master Pierre Vigny as well as jiujitsu experts Yukio Tani
and Sadakazu Uyenishi and a Swiss wrestler named Armand Cherpillod.
In addition to teaching classes in their specialties, the latter three
also competed in numerous wrestling tournaments throughout the U.K.
The slightly built Tani and Uyenishi created a sensation as they
almost always won against their much larger opponents, cementing the
reputation of the Bartitsu Club.
Bartitsu was conceptually divided into four ranges - those of the stick, the foot, the fist and of close combat. The Bartitsu practitioner was encouraged to train in each of the styles taught at the Club until s/he could use them effectively against each other. The bases of the system were the Vigny stick fighting art and jiujitsu, with street-adaptations of boxing and savate used to bridge the gap between stick fighting and wrestling.
The Club quickly attracted an eclectic membership, and was the first
school of its type to offer self defence classes for women. It also
became the headquarters of a cabal of fencer/historians led by Egerton
Castle and Sir Alfred Hutton, who were devoted to experimenting with
archaic fencing styles such as the use of the two-handed sword and the
rapier and dagger. In addition, they offered theatrical fencing
classes to members of London's acting elite.
As well as martial arts and exercise classes, the Bartitsu Club
offered a wide range of therapeutic devices such as the "Light Bath",
the "Thermo-Penetration Machine" and the "Electric Light Massaging
Machine".
The Bartitsu Club eventually closed its doors for the last time in
late 1903. Although Vigny, Tani, Uyenishi and Cherpillod continued to
compete and to teach their skills both in England and internationally,
Barton-Wright retired from active martial arts instruction. He spent
the rest of his career as a physical therapist, using his heat and
light devices to alleviate the pain of arthritis and rheumatism. E.W.
Barton-Wright died in 1951, at the age of ninety.
Bartitsu might have been forgotten if not for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
who wrote the art in to one of his Sherlock Holmes stories. In the
Adventure of the Empty House (1903), Holmes explained that he had
defeated his arch nemesis, Professor Moriarty, through his expertise
in "baritsu". Doyle's small typographical error aside, this was
enough to ensure that future generations would continue to wonder
about this mysterious "Edwardian jiujitsu".
In recent years, an international collective of martial artists and
historians have formed the Bartitsu Society, which is dedicated to
researching and re-creating Barton-Wright's self defence system.
Last September, a book called the Bartitsu Compendium, a complete
history and guide to the art, was launched at a function in the Allen
Room at St. Anne's Church – a mere stone's throw from the original
site of the Bartitsu Club. All proceeds from this book have been
dedicated towards creating a memorial plaque for E.W. Barton-Wright,
in recognition of his achievements as a pioneer of the martial arts.
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