When I stumbled across a brief history of bartitsu on the Web, I assumed it was a Simpsons joke at best or a ninth-rate Shaq-Fu clone at worst. But as it turns out, bartitsu is a legitimate blend of jiujitsu, sumo wrestling, French kickboxing, stick fighting, and other martial arts. And despite all evidence to the contrary, you don’t have to dress like Doctor Watson to do it.
111 years ago, an Indian-born Brit named Edward William Barton-Wright returned from Japan with an idea for a “New Art of Self Defence” that would help well-to-do men about town lay the smackdown with their fists, feet and high-fashion walking sticks. It was a bit of a fad for a few years — particularly because Barton-Wright seemed to be really good at beating people up — and even earned him an audience with the Prince of Wales, which Barton-Wright missed after falling of his bicycle and injuring himself.
The unorthodox fighting style also caught the attention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose legendary Sherlock Holmes character employed a little “baritsu” in the smackage of his nemesis, the evil Professor Moriarty:
When I reached the end I stood at bay. He drew no weapon, but he rushed at me and threw his long arms around me. He knew that his own game was up, and was only anxious to revenge himself upon me. We tottered together upon the brink of the fall. I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me. I slipped through his grip, and he with a horrible scream kicked madly for a few seconds and clawed the air with both his hands. But for all his efforts he could not get his balance, and over he went. With my face over the brink I saw him fall for a long way. Then he struck a rock, bounced off, and splashed into the water.
In spite of the fact that Doyle apparently forgot the first “t” — perhaps because he thought the “tits” in “bartitsu” might offend people — bartitsu is enjoying a surprising revival, based mostly on a couple of lines in a Sherlock Holmes novel.
If you’d like to become a cane-wielding bartitsu master, check out bartitsu.org for more information.
Neat-o image by Russell Garner on PBase.
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