About
Edward William Barton-Wright, the founder of Bartitsu
In March of 1899, readers of an article appearing in London’s Pearson’s Magazine were intrigued to learn that a “New Art of Self Defence” had been introduced to their city. The author of the article and founder of the New Art was Edward William Barton-Wright, whose life and contributions to the martial arts are the subjects of this website.
As detailed in the series of articles Barton-Wright authored between 1899 and 1904, his New Art - which he referred to as Bartitsu - was largely drawn from various ko-ryu (“old school”) forms of jiujitsu. Over the next several years he also incorporated tactics and combat techniques from British boxing, French savate, and a stick fighting style that had been developed by a Swiss Maitre d’Armes, Pierre Vigny. As such, Bartitsu – the word was a portmanteau of “Barton-Wright” and “jiujitsu” - became the first self defence system to combine Asian and European martial arts.
Bartitsu was promoted through a series of well-publicised challenge matches, pitting Barton-Wright’s Japanese and Swiss champions against exponents of various other combat sports and anticipating the mixed martial arts craze of the 1990s by nearly one hundred years. Edward William Barton-Wright was a man well and truly ahead of his time.
In 2001 the Electronic Journals of Martial Arts and Sciences (EJMAS) website began to re-publish many of Barton-Wright’s magazine articles, which had been uncovered by martial arts historian 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.
In 2002, author and Bartitsu enthusiast Will Thomas set up an email list to communicate with others of like mind. This correspondence developed into an international association known as the Bartitsu Society, which was formed to research E.W. Barton-Wright’s “New Art of Self Defence”. Although initially focussed on academic and historical documentation, the charter of the Bartitsu Society grew to encompass reviving the art at the practical level.
The first task was to gather as much primary source information as possible about Barton-Wright and his martial art, and towards this goal, members of the Society scoured institutions such as the British Library as well as old bookstores and newspaper archives. Eventually, the Society had enough information to be able to confidently define “Canonical Bartitsu”; the collection of self defence sequences, kata and techniques that were specifically presented as Bartitsu by Barton-Wright and his associates between 1899 and 1903. Canonical Bartitsu is maintained as a mark of respect for Barton-Wright’s vision, as a matter of historical preservation and also as a form of common language amongst contemporary enthusiasts.
Having established the Bartitsu canon, the Society then turned its attention to the idea of neo-Bartitsu. This was suggested as a way for Bartitsu enthusiasts, both individuals and groups, to work creatively with the canonical material. Neo-Bartitsu was also conceived as a way to extend the art through reference to the corpus of boxing, jiujitsu, savate and stick-fighting methods recorded in the books produced by Barton-Wright’s colleagues and their students between 1903 and the early 1920s. In this sense, neo-Bartitsu can be described as “Bartitsu as it might have been” or as “Bartitsu as it can be today.”
By 2004, members of the Society had begun offering practical workshops in both canonical and neo-Bartitsu techniques.
In August of 2005 the Society published a book, the Bartitsu Compendium, which details the complete history of the art as well as a technical curriculum for canonical Bartitsu. Proceeds from the sales of the book have been dedicated to creating an appropriate memorial for E.W. Barton-Wright.
3 years later, in August 2008 the Society published the second volume of the Compendium, providing resources for continuing Barton-Wrights experiments. Containing excerpts from multiple self defence manuals of the era, as well as newspaper cuttings, this volume supports further research into Neo-Bartitsu.
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By british boxing, Monday, 15th December 2008 @ 11:28 pm
hi nice site some great post interesting read with very useful information will visit again
By James, Tuesday, 16th December 2008 @ 10:38 am
Glad you found it useful!