Bartitsu introduction by Will Thomas (first draft)
Rikki-Tikki-Weasel-not-a-Badger
Bartitsu is a martial art organized by Edward William Barton-Wright, an
English engineer who studied jiu-jitsu and judo in Japan during the
1890's. He returned to England and opened a school-at-arms in Shaftsbury
Avenue, London, bringing two young Japanese instructors with him. Bartitsu
was not strictly a Japanese art, however, but a universal one,
incorporating western fighting styles such as boxing, wrestling, savate
and lacanne. Bartitsu had a brief vogue around the turn of the century,
and Barton-Wright hosted a tournament and received notice in several
magazines, before the art was superceded in the public eye, first by his
own jiu-jitsu instructors who founded schools of their own in competition
with him, and later by judo.
Bartitsu might have died a quiet death then, save for a chance mention by
Arthur Conan Doyle in his Sherlock Holmes story, "the Adventure of the
Empty House", in which Holmes despatches his nemesis, Professor Moriarty
using 'baritsu, the Japanese art of wrestling'. As interest in Holmes
grew, 'baritsu' was adopted by other fictional heroes, such as the Shadow
and Doc Savage. Bartitsu also intrigued dedicated martial artists and
hoplologists, with its quaint photographs of Barton-Wright in his straw
boater hat and curling moustache, waving a walking stick about.
In the 1990's there was renewed interest in historic western fighting
methods, due to the appearance of several renaissance fairs around the
world, and martial artists in the west began to become interested in their
own countries' martial history. Ancient manuals were rediscovered and
reprinted, and online publications such as the Journal of Manly Arts
rescued texts from oblivion. The stage was set for Bartitsu to return.
In 2002, a little over a century since Bartitsu was invented, I created a
Yahoo Group online, the Bartitsu Forum. It attracted interest quickly from
all over the world. Our members are fighters, instructors, sherlockians,
hoplologists, stage combat teachers, writers, and laymen. What brought us
together was a desire to locate whatever could be found about E. W.
Barton-Wright. Our members combed the British Museum and libraries for old
articles, and haunted bookstores and Ebay for Edwardian texts on boxing,
fencing, and jiu-jitsu. Like sleuths, we researched Barton-Wright's
history in Japan, discovering what schools he attended, and followed up on
the careers of some of his students.
What we discovered is here in this one volume. Barton-Wright (or BW, as we
call him) once spoke of three hundred techniques, but only forty of them
found their way into print. However, we have collected syllibi from the
schools he attended, and several manuals from his students, many of whom
went on to become instructors themselves. It is possible to combine this
knowledge into a syllabus that aproximates his teachings until, dare we
hope, BW's own notebooks are unearthed someday, somewhere. We shall
attenpt such a step in a second volume, but in this one we shall discuss
Barton-Wright's life and history, and present, along with copious notes
and photographs, what we have come to call the "Canon of Forty". It is
Bartitsu in its purest form, demonstrated by the man himself.
Japanese martial arts were demonstrated in the West once or twice before
1900, but BW was the first instructor to teach them. He was also the first
creator of an eclectic system based on Eastern and Western martial arts,
which gave rise to such styles as Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do. He therefore
has earned his place in combat history.
-Will Thomas