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From: BartitsuSociety
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  • Sherlock Holmes is the reason I want to learn Bartitsu!

  • @SirBurstify Then head over to bartitsu.org and find a place teaching it :D Feel free to message me if you get stuck. I teach in Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK. There are plenty of others around the world!

  • Wonder who won between Barton and Yukio Tani? 

  • @djeq721 - the only report we have on that fight was from Barton-Wright himself. He said that Tani was missing appointments etc. and that Tani threatened Barton-Wright after Barton-Wright threatened to dock his pay. They fought and "Bartitsu proved superior to Tani's jujitsu", implying that Barton-Wright beat Tani. In a pure jujitsu match Tani would have had the advantage, but Barton-Wright had the edge in boxing, etc. Basically, their fight is one of the great Bartitsu mysteries.

  • this is how sherlock holmes fights

  • @Legoman0323 hell yeah :D

  • Rather interesting I'ld say, how time is irrelevant. Also, and I mean really, how many ways are there to cook up a stew? "Tom-a-toe, Tom-ae-toe"...can we not all agree to stop patronizing whatever, whoever, whenever, and just name it "in the preferred language of choice, "English" (i.e. Tom, Dick, or Jane's School of fighting & Defense!) "HELLO" we are marketing to "The English"!

    Nothing like a bloody good head butt, what?

  • white people martial arts

  • @home0girl0kitty - race is obviously irrelevant to the practice of Bartitsu.

  • I met a couple of Bartitsu guys training in Battersea park recently. They work real hard and know their stuff really well. Both were gentleman and I thought they were great ambassadors for the art. I wish Bartitsu and it's practitioners all the best in reviving this noble form of martial arts. Well done!!!

  • @jasma98 Indeed. They are excellent chaps, and work a lot harder than I can at it (unfortunately - my time is divided among too many MA...for good or bad!)

  • fascinating story. just like bruce lee, combining the best of different martial arts. would b interesting to know if bruce ever heard of him. thanx 4 sharing.

  • Dude they have funny mustache but they kick ass that's like funningly-awesome ?

  • God I love that music LMFAO!!!

  • The photo at 52 seconds looks like the guy on the left is wearing a kohaku (red/white) belt. These were introduced about 1930. Is this correct according to the Bartitsu timeline?

  • what is the song name

  • Terrible choice of music, good lord. Pachebel is too cliché, and not victorian-era at all.

  • @papajohn5656

    Well turn 1911 mode on, then.

  • @papajohn5656 - Pachelbel's Canon in D Major was chosen because it was still a popular piece of music circa 1900 and (more importantly, for our purposes) because it matched the emotional journey of the mini-documentary.

  • @BartitsuSociety As a sometimes DJ, I hate it when people question your choice of music! I mean really, do we go into their place of employment and say 'Nah mate, you're doing it all wrong!' Great work on this little film guys, great spirit!

  • This was back in the day when you could travel armed without the cops arresting you in the UK.

    WW1 and WW2 ruined everything for civil liberties...

  • Pachelbel's Canon? Really?

  • Shattering a man's femur has never looked more dignified.

  • excellent documentary. i always thought that "Baritsu" (as written by A.C. Doyle) was a fancy name and that he actually meant Jiu-Jitsu or Judo. it´s exciting to learn that this system really existed. so basically, Barton-Wright was a pioneer of MMA and self-defense for women. such a pity that his school closed so soon: if that had not happened, maybe Bartitsu would have had a parallel history to Jiu-Jitsu in Europe and would have been similarly famous. really amazing & thanx for the documentary

  • @harpiyon - thank you, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. We have since produced a full-length documentary, which will be ready for release very soon.

  • @BartitsuSociety thanks for the information. looking forward to that :)

    btw do you have a school in Germany? it´d be really exciting to see a live performance / demo of the martial arts that Sherlock Holmes practised (and which helped him overcome Prof. Moriarty, his greatest & most dangerous foe)

    and who knows... maybe i´ll start practising it myself?

  • @harpiyon - yes, there are two very good Bartitsu instructors in Germany. I suggest first visiting the Bartitsu.org website, then (if you're interested) joining the Bartitsu Forum discussion group. I can't link to it here, so just Google it. The Forum is a very positive venue and almost all of the most active enthusiasts are members there, including the German representatives.

  • @BartitsuSociety thank you mate :) i started reading on the site. it seems very good and with much in-depth information. hell, a new world has just revealed itself to me :)

    btw i did Karate and Aikido and since a few years Aiki-Jujutsu (an old form of Aikido) but now i´m really excited to learn more about Bartitsu.

    thank you again.

  • @harpiyon Barton-Wright studied Japanese Jujutsu, not "Jiu-Jitsu." This isn't Brazil.

  • @44excalibur thanks for ponting that out :)

  • @44excalibur - the jiujitsu spelling was perpetuated in Brazil throughout the 20th century as it fell from favor in other parts of the world, but our use in this video reflects the way it was commonly spelled in London around 1900. Incidentally, at that time it was also spelled "ju-jit-su", "ju-juits", etc. in English.

  • @BartitsuSociety I'm aware of that. But we're not in 1900 anymore, yet more and more often I see the "Jiu-Jitsu" mispelling used by people on the internet, mostly due to it being popularized by the Gracies and MMA.

  • @44excalibur Fair enough, I'm just pointing out that in our case, it's a deliberate anachronism referencing the early days of Japanese martial arts in England.

  • @44excalibur the Japanese term is: 柔術 the correct Japanese pronunciation is juu jutsu (long "u" in the 1st character), which means "the Soft Art". there were (and still are) different systems of transcribing the Japanese characters with the Latin alphabet (in Japan they say: ローマ字, i.e. Roma-ji which means "Roman letters"), hence the different spelligs.

    it is a lil bit confusing, but i think all these different transciptions refer to these 2 Japanese characters.

  • @harpiyon Yes, I do know that the Japanese use a long "u" in the first character. The literal translation is "soft art," but in the context of hand to hand combat it means "art of yielding." The old Romanization "Jiu Jitsu" was based more on what westerners thought they heard when the word was pronounced in Japanese, but the accepted correct Romanization is "Jujutsu" or "Ju Jutsu" with a long "u" in the first character. It can be confusing.

  • if outnumbered their mustaches can double as nightsticks

  • 0:47 most epic mustachio EVAR!

    other than the fact that wedding music isn't very fitting for a video about martial arts. it is a good video

  • Greetings from a fellow gentleman and a practitioner of another gentle art (bjj)

  • excellent mini-doc. I knew a little bit about bartitsu but would love to know more, and maybe practice in some of it's teachings.

  • Johan Pachelbel - canon

  • THe picture toward the end of the elderly gentlman, is that E.W.? Because it looks more like the Japanese fellow that they were mentioning in the paragraph. ANy pictures of E.W. in action?

  • @GJJFan - that picture is of Gunji Koizumi.

    There are many pictures of Barton-Wright in action, most notably the photographs that illustrated his articles for Pearson's Magazine. Try Google searches for "The New Art of Self Defence" and "Self Defence with a Walking Stick".

  • Very interesting

  • Meh, was enjoying up to the photo montage, where the author slipped in images of New York.

    Reliability: Undermined.

    

  • @M15HUN - the original draft of the script included this quote from Barton-Wright: "A foreigner ... will not hesitate to use a chair, or a beer bottle, or a knife, or anything that comes handy, and if no weapon is available the chances are he would employ what we should consider are underhanded means."

    After the quote was dropped, we retained the Five Points image to represent Victorian-era street gangsters generically; apologies if it reads as misrepresentation.

  • @BartitsuSociety Fair play. Thanks for clearing that up.

  • Barton-Wright was certainly ahead of his time. It's too bad the club dissolved when it did rather than survive. Who knows what it might have evolved into....

  • Interesting.

  • this is so sad...... he was ahead of his time... krav magga jkd, mma and modern kali training are based on similar principles.... with very similar moves... i'd study this if I could but it'd probably be costly.

  • It looks awesome. I wish they taught this stuff in Sweden. Alas, no such luck. I'm currently looking at taking some kind of martial art class (not purely for self-defense purposes). Bartitsu would've definitely been my first choice if they had had anyone teach it here. Right now I'm trying to choose between Tai Chi/Quigong and Krav Maga. I hope to get a chance to practice Bartitsu sometime in the future, though.

  • @DerrickCole krav magga all the way mate you won't regret it...

  • Spectacular video!

    Thankyou for sharing this!

  • Hardest part of this martial art is the part where ,during ALL techniques, you must have your pinky finger out and a stiff upper lip. Unfortunately these gentlemanly ways have died out and any imitation Bartitsu clubs are simply people cashing in on a craze.

    Tally Ho, pip pip and what not.

  • @Abtruse1 - The handful of modern Bartitsu enthusiasts spend more time and effort on the hobby than they are rewarded for in any monetary terms. Trying to revive something as obscure as Bartitsu is almost the definition of "labour of love".

  • ประวัติความเป็นมาของยิตสู้นในอ­ังกฤษ

  • Very interesting, thank you :-)

  • It always seems to go back to JUDO!

  • wonderful film. thanks.

  • Nice documentary; I really don´t understand the choice of background music. Pachabel and Bartitsu?

  • @Derukugi2 - classical music was hugely popular circa 1900, but the main reason for this choice of music was that it nicely matched the emotional journey of the story.

  • @BartitsuSociety

    Classical music has always been popular and still is. I just think that a solemnt baroque piece like Pachabels Canon was an odd choice for a documentary like this.

    But whatever tickles you...

  • @Derukugi2 its gentlemanly. lol 

  • shindenfidoryu is ninjutsu not jujutsu

  • @MikeBurns27 - the style Barton-Wright studied in Kobe was called the Shinden Fudo Ryu, but it was not the same style that is now claimed as part of the Bujinkan lineage.

  • @ZenWolfDances Indeed, although I see parallels in particular moves of the Bartitsu Canon (I study both Bujinkan and Bartitsu :D )

  • At 1:57 : "Elizabethan Sword Play". When and where did Barton-Wright practice that? Very intriguing to see a Victorian reference to contemporary practice of the art of longsword!

  • @Gilmaris - during 1901 the Bartitsu Club was the headquarters of Captain Alfred Hutton's Elizabethan fencing classes. Hutton and his associates were among the first serious revivalists of fencing with the longsword, rapier and dagger, etc.  Hutton also collaborated with Barton-Wright in performing several martial arts exhibitions during this period.

  • Song used? And I'm plan on learing this very soon. I think it would be better than most martial arts, plus the thinking and planning of the attacks and blocking the others is just so fluid. It's almost like a dance.

  • @FmilyGuyFan117 - the music is Pachelbel's Canon in D Major.

    Note that the "planning the attacks" motif featured in the recent Sherlock Holmes movie was essentially an artistic choice on the part of the film-makers. That said, yes, as with any martial art, the ability to fluidly shift between techniques (and even between styles) is a characteristic of skill in Bartitsu.

  • Bartitsu = jujitsu for bar

  • entornar

    solo un cabron como ti puo'dire che el bjj es judo al suelo..

  • 4.13 Wonderful!!

  • Always good to see some history.

  • Soy practicante de Jiu Jitsu (tradicional no el BJJ que es Judo suelo) y me parece sumamente interesante es "arte marcial".

    Mucha suerte en la andadura y que se popularice.

  • Gracias.

  • As a martial arts practicioner and enthusiast, I truly do hope you to be successful in spreading your arts through the world, and I hope as well to find some day any of your trainees at the other side of the fighting field, it will be a nice experience.

  • Thanks for all the replies.

    Can you please explain the idea behind the statement, which seems to be a Bartitsu principle, that "a gentleman doesn't use a blow with the back of the hand?"

  • That was just Holmes' idea of putting a ruffian in his place.

  • I wonder what was the argument between Barton-Wright and Yukio Tami about? Is it save to assume that the father of Bartitsu did not win that fight since he retired from martial arts thereafter, whilst his former partners opened their own schools?

  • According to Barton-Wright's own report, which is all we know about the incident, Tani had been "troublesome" and Barton-Wright threatened to dock his wages. Tani then threatened Barton-Wright with violence and they fought, "Bartitsu proving superior to Tani's jiujitsu".

    Tani, Uyenishi, Cherpillod and Vigny were employees at the Bartitsu Club, not Barton-Wright's partners.

    No-one knows exactly why the Club closed down - it's one of the great "Bartitsu mysteries".

  • SO AWESOME

    I've been a student of Aikido and some Koryu jiujitsu for about 6 years now, and I find Bartitsu really interesting, especially for its fusion with European fighting styles. Can the Bartitsu compendium(s) be purchased online anywhere?

  • Yes, you can buy copies from Amazon or Lulu.

  • wtf, 1:37 it's little Italy, NY, they are not British hooligans/garrotters, that's Italian mafia

  • Yes - we couldn't find any suitable photographs of London hooligans, so we used that one to illustrate 19th century street gangsters in general.

  • Documentary preview: "Bartitsu - the Lost Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes"

    Check our new Trailer

    Bartitsu Society

  • A very interesting self defense method. I've seen some classes on defending yourself with canes and the like at recreation centers, but I didn't know there was a martial art like this around. Sad that the art was lost; I hope it can be recreated. I would love to learn this.

  • If anyone could tell me the order of Sherlock Holmes moves, because I wan't to learn it. I watched the movie yesterday and It was great, but what order did he do it in. Correct me if i'm wrong but is it distraction, elbow block,punch in the ribs, punch in the jaw, blow to the ear/s then heel kick. If anyone can clarify this that would be great.

  • In the edited version of the movie fight available on YouTube, the order is:

    Distract opponent - parry blind jab - counter with right cross to left cheek - "discombobulate" (double ear slap) - elbow block vs. haymaker punch- weaken right jaw (left elbow smash) - fracture right jaw (left jab) - right cross to break cracked ribs - heel kick to diaphragm.

    The full-length version of the choreography includes a couple more techniques.

  • @ZenWolfDances where can you find the video of that choreography ?

  • The slightly shorter version of the choreography is available on YouTube - try a search for "Sherlock Holmes we ain't done yet".

  • Just so you know, I'm pretty sure what Robert Downey Jr. was doing in the new "Sherlock Holmes" was actually Wing Chun, and not Bartitsu. I know for a fact that RDJ studies Wing chun in his spare time, and that's probably where it all came from. From the form and target of his punches, it looks alot more like wing chun than any form of jiujitsu to me. If thats what you're interested in, you may want to look at Wing chun.

  • We have an in-depth interview with "Sherlock Holmes" fight choreographer Richard Ryan at the Bartitsu Society website.

  • Are there any tournaments or sanctioned matches of your fighting style?

  • Not since about 1901. It's still early days for the modern revival.

  • I'll have to wait in order to spar against a Bartitsu practitioner, then. Too bad. I just hope it gets fully revived before I reach 40 years of age...

  • "Wing Chun" was my first thought when I saw RDJ's punches and blocks in the pit scene. Imho, in the whole sequence, only the final kick is Savate, i.e. with "European" origins, and there are no ju-jitsu, i.e. Japanese, elements at all.

    I read the choreographer's interview and the wording "artistic license" says it all.

  • Yes - the greatest benefit of the movie for us is to connect "martial arts" with "Victorian London" in the popular imagination. That said, Wing Chun is technically close to 19th century English fisticuffs (vertical fists, mostly linear punches, etc.) and the other fight scenes are closer to classical Bartitsu, especially Dr. Watson's fighting style.

  • everything is better with a handlebar mustache and straw hat

  • Sherlock Holmes was an expert in this style.

  • you do realise sherlock holmes is a fictional character?

  • Nobody fucking cares.

    He was awesome at being a fictional character.

  • Fictional, yes, but still, one highly recognized and adored and has a huge fan-base.

  • Very interesting! I never knew such an fighting style actually existed. I did once read a Holmes essay by a Japanese diplomat that suggested that 'Bartitsu' or similar word I can't remember the spelling off, included spear fighting, knowledge of fortifications, and wrestling. In 'Black Peter," Holmes showed knowledge of harpoon use. Holmes could well have used Barton-Wright's techniques to defeat Moriarty.

  • Note that the boxing punch shown is thrown with a VERTICAL fist alignment rather than the horizontal alignment now seen in modern boxing.

    Many Years Later, Bruce Lee would himself utilize the vertical alignment in his Straight Lead punch.

  • A vertical fist is what you see most throughout Europe until the glove is introduced to boxing. Unless striking around forearm to reach the face, you will see a vertical fist before gloves.

    Very cool documentary.

  • @illman8876 The vertical punch is a staple of Wing Chun kung fu (which is seen in the recent Sherlock Holmes and was BL's base style) but many old pictures show old boxers using a similar one. I believe it is because the modern style of boxing punch is more suited to gloves.

  • One of the earliest mixed martial arts of the twentith century. Though jujitsu with hard and soft techniques,Bartitsu actually combined the different martial arts together to form one single martial art.

  • I was half expecting the background music to transition into Canon Rock :P I've listened to that version way too many times.

  • great video, l didnt know about this. Tnx :)

  • What a fantastic & researched history lesson. Thank you very much for sharing this. Dale

  • Fascinating, thank you!

  • at 1:52 thats a pic of william hearst from USA a newspaper mogul

  • Yes, it's the cover of an American edition of Pearson's Magazine, which featured Barton-Wright's articles on Bartitsu.

  • very interesting indeed

  • Really good vid,thanks a lot for posting this.

  • Thanks for the nice docu.

    Horst

  • First read about bartitsu in a book called From Lee to Li. Never knew there was a society about it till now. Can woman join?

  • Yes, of course!

  • This docummentary is beautiful. I just learned about Bartitsu some days ago and I'm delighted with this martial art. I'd like to learn more about it.

  • Thank you. You can learn much more about Bartitsu by visiting the Bartitsu Society website and joining our email list.

  • I would appreciate it if you make a video of Bartitsu in action

    Thank you

  • Loved this video, Is there any plan to make a full length documentary? I think alot of people in the MMA world including myself would be very interested.

  • Thanks. Yes, we do have ambitions in that direction.

  • I'm glad to hear it, If/when you have updates on this could you please post details on your channel? I'll be sure to subscribe now so i don't miss any news, thanks for doing what your doing, much respect.

  • I'd suggest also checking out the Bartitsu Society website, as mentioned at the end of the documentary and in the video description box, for any updates re. the documentary project.

  • So is there any attemots to bring this fighting style back and maybe into the mainstream, becuase being a MMA I would love to see what the potential of Bartjtsu is in the modern world, I would also like to train it, though I think Bartitsu would probably be more suited these days by being mixed with mixed martial arts and styles such as Muay Thai.

  • Bartitsu is being revived, but in order to distinguish it from established, modern systems (MMA, Jeet Kune Do, etc.) the revivalists stick pretty strictly to the original mix of pre-WW1 judo/jujitsu, boxing, savate and Vigny stick fighting. Also, although neo-Bartitsu has a sporting component, the emphasis is on self defense and on "living history"-type recreational training.

  • Understood, still if I ever was given the chance to train it I would experiment with it, see what could work with it, Like Muay Thai, the reason I'm saying M T though is becuase Batitisu involves Savate which has its simlierarities with Muay Thai and Muay Thai is widly known for its effectiveness in self defence. So guessing with the name your a repressentative of the Bartitsu society, may I ask what is being done to bring this style back??

  • Bartitsu seminars have been offered at martial arts conferences around the world since 2005 and study groups have been starting up over the past couple of years. It's still early days for the revival, though.

    Check out the Bartitsu website referred to at the end of the documentary for more details.

  • i am a judo-ninpo practioner from greece,and it's impessive that in uk there is such a great tradition in all aspects of budo,possibly not found in any other country outside of japan

  • i practice ju jitsu but i would like to see bartitsu lessons in the Netherlands.

  • The Zwaardkring historical fencing club offers one two-hour Bartitsu practice session per month and the Judoclub Shizen Hontai plans to offer a weekly Bartitsu study group. Both clubs are in Veldhoven, Netherlands.

  • tank you very much

  • Bartitsu had real potential to have advanced the art of fighting earlier, but I guess the people at the time weren't interested, and Bartitsu was not promoted as well as it should be. If it had lived for a decade or more, we may have had UFC-style promotions 100 years earlier, pitting Bartitsu against rival hybrid fighting systems. The 19th century actually had style VS style bouts, usually boxing VS wrestling, but there are also Japanese and other foreign fighters in those, with varying success

  • Barton-Wright did promote cross-style matches (especially jujitsu vs. British wrestling) and he encouraged all members of the Bartitsu Club to cross-train between fighting styles.

  • It apears that Mr. Barton lost to Mr. Tani.  That is why the dojo closed down. The student was better than the teacher.

  • The only known record of the fight between Tani and Barton-Wright was the latter's own report, mentioned in an interview some fifty years later. Barton-Wright said that "Bartitsu proved superior to Tani's jujitsu"; no-one actually knows anything beyond that.

    Tani was never Barton-Wright's student. Barton-Wright was the owner and manager of the Bartitsu School of Arms, and Tani was Barton-Wright's employee; there's no doubt that Tani was the more experienced jujitsuka, though.

  • Sherlock Holmes knows bartitsu!

  • Apparently, he knew baritsu ... although no-one knows why it was misspelt. Wikipedia might be making it all up, but interesting read of the bartitsu page.

  • The Bartitsu page on Wikipedia accurately represents the research carried out by members of the Bartitsu Society since 2002.

  • always been interested in this martial art, but could find little info , or if practised, excellent work

  • English guy goes to Japan, learns jujitsu, comes back and starts his own dojo, gets in a fight with his star pupil, who then branches off and forms his own dojo...

    Is it just me, or does this have the makings of an awesome English Samurai story?

  • Wonderful!! Absolutely wonderful. I didn't realize there was reading out on it. I knew of an example dvd on that lulu thing or whatever it's called, but had no idea there was literature on the matter. I had pretty much given up the search for anything I might find adequate. Thanks

  • Sherlock Holmes killed his rival with this system.

  • great vid!

    what's the song's name??

  • It's the Canon in D Major by Pachelbel.

  • Are there any Bartitsu schools left? and who was that guy at the very end with grey hair? i saw him in a book.

  • There are a couple of ongoing courses but it's still very early days for Bartitsu reconstruction. Most practical training happens at Western martial arts conferences around the world.

    If you're referring to a picture in the new "Way of the Warrior" book, you've probably recognized Tony Wolf, who also appears in the color picture at the end of the documentary.

  • lol ya i got that book. i read the whole book.

  • Excellent! Thank you!

  • Really quite a lovely video, and quite an intriguing man. A good piece of music and an altogether informative piece of work. I often wondered what Conan-Doyle was refering to. Thanks for the posting, the first of many i hope.

  • Very good vid. I found it very inspirational. Is it still taught?

  • Bartitsu is being revived by members of the Bartitsu Society, through a combination of research into the original sources and pressure-testing via practical training and sparring.

  • Wow, what a great video.

    Kudos to the makers!

    I would love to see a branch of the Bartitsu club here in Vancouver, Canada. I wold join in an instant.

  • Thank you.

    There is a historical fencing club in Vancouver (Academie Duello) that sometimes offers walking stick/umbrella self defence classes; not Bartitsu per se, but I believe that they do refer to it in their lessons.

    If you're interested in this subject you might also consider the Bartitsu Forum email list via YahooGroups.

  • This is absolutely intriguing. Thanks for making the vid. When I read of "baritsu" in Sherlock Holmes as a kid, I thought it was just a Japanese martial art I'd never heard of, then later came to believe it was a made-up word.

    How closely do you think your current training matches up with what Barton-Wright did? How similar is it to modern MMA?

  • It's as close as we can get based on very extensive research, bearing in mind that modern Bartitsu is a series of reconstructions based on Barton-Wright's original methods.

    Bartitsu is similar to MMA in that it's a process of cross-training between four effective styles and it values pressure-testing by sparring/randori; different in that it's based on pre-WW1 sources and uses sparring primarily to train/condition for self defense.

  • Regarding the "Wing Chun vs, Jujitsu" debate, which I have just (regretfully) deleted; while style vs. style discussions are very much in the Bartitsu spirit, insofar as my documentary is a tribute to the memory of E.W. Barton-Wright and his art of Bartitsu, I don't feel that it's fitting to have people insulting and cursing at each other via these comments.

    Please feel free to take your debate to private discussion, and good luck.

  • Such a very middle class attitude, just like bartitsu itself eh?

  • Bartitsu was designed by and for gentlemen; simple courtesy is not restricted by social class.

  • It's sad that many people don't know this. Many martial artist dont know that it was Barton Wright who was the first with the Asian martial arts. Good Video THANK YOU!

  • The bartitsu fees must had killed the art itsself. At least Barton-Wright was able to publish demonstration to his art on magazines, and someone was able to discover and post them on the web. I honestly will like to see this art in fighting games.

  • let's hope the new sherlock holmes film gives this the recognition it so richly deserves

    basically , this man was the first bruce lee , 70 years before lee even made a film

  • I wouldn't really compare him to bruce lee, bruce lee not only developed a unique mixed arts system, but helped break down the social boundaries between the east and the west, yes Barton Wright was quite clever in developing his system, but i don't think it is as effective as kung fu, after all, from watching some of the stances, a lot of it originates from kung fu.

  • Actually, Barton-Wright did help break down the social boundaries of his day, especially between Japan and England. Among other things, he introduced jujitsu into Western popular culture.

    There was no kung-fu influence on Bartitsu, just jujitsu, judo, boxing, French/Swiss stick fighting and savate, with some techniques and theory from from wrestling and fencing.

  • Sorry i meant to say, on the actual web site, some of the videos, the stances are pretty similar to wing chun, it is said that karate and other japanese arts did originate from china, but you have to admit, bartitsu doesn't look very practical.

  • The closest Bartitsu gets to Wing Chun is "scientific boxing", which was the amateur boxing style practiced by English gentlemen at the turn of the 20th century. It is somewhat similar - erect stances, mostly linear punches - but it has no known historical connection to Wing Chun.

    Bartitsu was a *very* practical method of cross-training between jujitsu, boxing, savate and stick fighting. Don't be fooled by the handlebar mustaches and formal poses for the camera; these guys were fighters.

  • Fantastic. With this, Bartitsu will never again be forgoten.

  • Some of the techniques look a little similar to wing chun, to bad they don't teach bartitsu these days.

  • "to bad they don't teach bartitsu these days."

    You didn't quite pay attention to the last bit of the video, did you?

  • Yeah well, to be honest it doesn't really look that practical anyway, im happy with wing chun, bartitsu is more of a nostalgic thing.

  • M kito el sombrero ante tal pionero d las artes marciales, siempre estuve interesado en esos hombres victorianos con intereseses marciales y saber q hubo uno q logro tanto m emociona

  • Very interesting!

  • I loved it !

  • Very enjoyable. Nice pace, perspective and good choice of music.

  • bravo, about time that Wright's achievements were recognised.

  • Great job. He surely was a pioneer, and his work must not be forgotten.