What is Bartitsu? When Sherlock Holmes met Martial Arts

Is Bartitsu real?

These days, Bartitsu is not widely practiced and is thought of as nostalgia rather than practicality. However, back in the era of Arthur Conan Doyle, Bartitsu was a real martial art that was used as a genuine form of self-defense. The art was originally created by the Englishman William Barton-Wright during the 19th century who named the art after himself. Due to the upper-class nature of Barton-Wright, it is often referred to as the gentleman’s art.

As he was fascinated by Ju Jitsu, he combined his own second name ‘Barton’ with ‘Jitsu’, creating ‘Bartitsu’. However, the art was not exclusively Ju Jitsu based. Aside from Ju Jitsu, it also took from arts such as cane fighting, boxing, judo and savate. As you can imagine, Bartitsu was very much a reflection of the environment it was created in.

Because of this, Bartitsu’s fame was short-lived and didn’t make it to the modern-day martial arts. Although it has gone through something of a revival in recent years, this is more of a homage than serious martial art. Whilst you may have some serious Bartitsu dojos, these are mostly rare and the art isn’t as relevant as it used to be, both culturally and in practical terms.

Combining other martial arts to create Bartitsu

As mentioned, Bartitsu took from other martial arts of its time and blended them together. For instance, the founder William Barton-Wright spent a few years in Japan which is where his fascination with Ju Jitsu came from. At the same time, boxing has always been popular in England, and canes and umbrellas were commonly used objects at the time, especially in the capital of London. This is why Barton-Wright put these arts together to make his own creation. Below we shall analyze each art and how it applied to Bartitsu.

Ju Jitsu

Japanese Ju Jitsu is still practiced today and mostly focuses on standing joint locks that flow into takedowns and trips. For instance, you may grapple the opponent and grab their arm. Here, you could apply a straight armlock which is when you straighten the arm of the opponent and apply tension and bend on the point of their elbow. If done with enough power, then you can snap the elbow and bones of the arm due to the torque created in the arm.

Similarly, Japanese Ju Jitsu also focuses on wristlocks and gives the opponent an ultimatum; to either accept the takedown by giving into the joint lock, or by resisting whilst standing and risking breaking limbs. Remember, during the nineteen hundreds, these methods would be somewhat alien to the streets of London. Because of this, if someone knew Japanese Ju Jitsu then they could be regarded as handy when defending themselves.

Boxing

Although boxing isn’t considered a martial art by some, it still has very real methods of self-defense. For obvious reasons, learning boxing is a great skill and can easily be used to win street fights. As the idea of Bartitsu was to survive or win fights and defend yourself, it’s not hard to understand why boxing was integrated into the art.

Although many people think of punches with boxing, it also has other massive benefits. These include footwork to avoid getting punched and also improving your cardio hugely. If ever you’ve had a few rounds of sparring then you will be tired afterward. This means boxing was not a tough decision to add to the world of Bartitsu.

Judo

Like boxing, Judo needs no introduction. The Japanese art is still as popular as ever and is still trained regularly by many across the globe. If boxing and cane fighting were designed for long-distance fighting, then Ju Jitsu and Judo were essential for closer grappling. The idea of Judo was to grapple with your opponent and to be able to put them onto the floor. Judo is especially effective in street fights due to hard floors. In short, if you are slammed onto a hard, concrete pavement on your back – then this will hurt and can instantly end the fight. Thus, Barton-Wright saw it as a key part of Bartitsu and was again something he learned whilst living in Japan.

Cane fighting / Cane form

Cane fighting is still used today in various forms of Hapkido and is even its own art. Although canes are rarely used as a fashion accessory in modern-day, they were very common in the time that Barton-Wright was living. Used whilst walking the streets, the cane could easily be turned from a walking prop into a deadly weapon. You may think that canes involve swinging with little thought, but there is actually a level of sophisticated techniques behind the art.

Similarly, the same principles could be applied to umbrellas and other large, pointed objects. As good as Ju Jitsu and boxing are for fist fighting, learning the cane would be needed when an attacker used their own cane otherwise you may be at a significant disadvantage against an enemy with a superior weapon. A modern day example of this would be this self defense umbrella. Although it looks like a regular umbrella, it can do some serious damage and is incredibly strong.

French Savate

Savate is less mainstream these days but was created in France and is very similar to kickboxing. This combined techniques from regular boxing, as well as kicks to defend against attackers. Like many forms of European martial arts, the idea behind savate wasn’t as spiritual as the traditional martial arts from the far east. Instead, like boxing, the idea behind savate was mostly for self-defense. Although savate is still trained today, it is mostly shadowed by kickboxing in the modern era. Having said that, there really isn’t much difference between the two in terms of their fighting style, stances, and mentality.

Other methods of combat exclusive to Bartitsu

It wouldn’t be fair to write about Bartitsu without mentioning some of its unique and unusual combat methods. Other than stick fighting, Bartitsu also used hats and cloaks as defensive ways to defeat an attacker. Again, these items aren’t as common today but remember we’re talking over 100 years ago in London. As a result, it wasn’t rare to see a gentleman wearing a bowler hat and cloak.

If attacked, they could throw the hat at the opponent to momentarily stun them. Similarly, the cloak was used to throw over the opponent. Both of these techniques were designed to block the vision of the opponent. By doing this, it would give the Bartitsu practitioner time to assess the situation which would result in fleeing or fighting, depending on the circumstances.

Bartitsu was exclusively for the wealthy

It may be surprising to know, but Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was originally reserved and taught to the wealthy of Brazil. The rich Gracie family began by teaching their own and were originally secretive about teaching their methods to outsiders. Since then the art has gone global and is practiced by all people, both rich and poor.
When looking at Bartitsu, the origins are similar. As Barton-Wright was a wealthy, well-traveled engineer – he created his club for the elite of London. Remember, back then society was different and the upper classes looked upon the working classes with a greater level of disdain.

The idea behind his thinking was that a lower-class street thief may try to mug him, so he had to be prepared. This was reflected in the price of the club, which meant poor outsiders simply couldn’t afford to train. Ironically, it may have been the poor who needed to learn his martial art the most. Although there is no historical evidence to back this up, the exclusivity of his club may have even led to the downfall of Bartitsu. Had Barton-Wright been more willing to open up his methods, it is logical to assume the art would have spread and led to the growth of his legacy. Instead, he owned one club which eventually declined in numbers which may have been down to the price.

Did Sherlock Holmes know martial arts?

Bartitsu was immortalized after being mentioned in a Sherlock Holmes extract. It read “I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me.” Firstly, ignore the typo, for some reason Arthur Conan Doyle genuinely spelt the term wrong.

Regardless, this sentence raised the profile of Bartitsu massively. Whether Arthur Conan Doyle actually practiced the art is not known, but the fact that he was aware of and writing of it shows its relevance. Due to the public fascination with Sherlock Holmes, it’s no surprise that his skills made the public take notice of the art.

In modern Sherlock Holmes movies and TV shows, you can see Holmes occasionally fighting and using elements of Bartitsu in these fight scenes. Interestingly, had Arthur Conan Doyle referred to his character’s martial arts as Ju Jitsu or something different, the art of Bartitsu would have been easily forgotten. Because of its mention, Bartitsu managed to survive even to this day. Think about it, Bartitsu had one gym and is still known. It’s highly possible that without the Sherlock Holmes reference it would have been lost in time forever.

Bartitsu used in modern-day

Influenced by Sherlock Holmes, Bartitsu was revived from the early 2000s onwards. Having said this, the art is still considered extremely obscure and is far from mainstream. Because of this, if you were thinking about learning the art, it would be near impossible for most people unless you luckily lived by one of the few gyms. Having said this, if you truly wanted to learn – you could cross-train other arts such as Judo, boxing, and cane fighting via Hapkido.

As mentioned the art of Bartitsu is still around today. Due to its obscurity, some of the most realistic ways to learn are probably through online methods such as videos and DVDs. Whilst it’s possible the art will grow, realistically it probably won’t go beyond the realms of novelty and nostalgia for most practitioners.

Is Bartitsu still applicable in today’s society?

Although it’s difficult to train, there are undoubtedly practical elements of Bartitsu that can be used today. Whilst cloaks, hat throwing, and canes may no longer be a part of modern-day attire, all other aspects of Bartitsu are still used regularly in fighting. For instance, Judo is perfect for takedowns, whilst savate and boxing are also perfect for striking. Because of this, it’s fair to say that Bartitsu was a legitimate martial art during its time. Even by today’s standards, it’s equally fair to say that a trained Bartitsu practitioner could defeat an untrained attacker.

In terms of learning today, we’ve already assessed ways to train. However, the most similar martial art in modern-day is probably Hapkido. Although Hapkido doesn’t use cloaks or hats, it does include most of the other areas of Bartitsu. For instance, the idea of Hapkido is that it includes a number of different techniques under its umbrella. Typically when training Hapkido, you can encounter grappling, striking, and cane form. This makes it reasonable to conclude that Hapkido is the closest thing to modern Bartitsu.

Final Thoughts

Although these days it may be practiced mostly by hipsters, the reality is that Bartitsu was once a genuinely brutal art of fighting during the Victorian era. As mentioned, it successfully combined various arts as well as using props from its time to successfully defeat attackers. As self-defense is the main goal of martial arts, it’s fair to say that Bartitsu was successful in that sense.
Arguably, the real sadness about the art was that it unsuccessfully grew, unlike other traditional martial arts.

Had it not been for the stubbornness of its founder, it may have caught on around England and spread throughout the world. Nonetheless, we should be grateful that it’s still known and taught as it may have genuinely died out completely had it not been briefly mentioned in a Sherlock Holmes novel.