Bartitsu, MMA in 1899:

[kenpodog]

There have been various threads on Modern MMA,
Favorite Weapons (the cane being my favorite),
Western Martial Arts and most recently a thread
on Savate........

So now would be a good time to mention
A mixed martial art from around 1900

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.

SOURCE: http://www.bartitsu.org/main.html

Other Links of Interest:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartitsu
http://ejmas.com/jmanly/jmanlyframe.htm
http://ejmas.com/jnc/jncart_barton-wright_0200.htm

This art looks very interesting to me possibly due to my
interest in the walking cane or maybe because I'm a fan
of Sherlock Holmes.

[futurama-freak]

wow what an interesting post, good research there Kenpodog.

[chayudo]

I kept waiting for the punchline. Thought it was a joke.

[Chapel]

I'm going to beat Martialman to the punch here.

Was it really a new art if it was a combination of the existing styles of jujitsu, British boxing, French savate, and a stick fighting style?

I would say it is if there are techniques that unite those styles and are unique to Bartitsu.

[Spinach]

He was an interesting fellow for sure. Of course 4 years is a very short time for a school to grow and decline. The use of the cane came from the Pierre Vigny method. It appeared to be an attempt to rush a new art. The fighters regularly training in these methods were quick to succumb to shoulder strains and injury`s from the un-anatomical 'high guard' stance.

However I really think he was a pioneer in cross training martial arts. Not that he gets any respect for it. When some talks about the origin of cross training its only a slow count of three before the name 'Bruce Lee' leaves their mouth. His open mindedness in actually encouraging his students to broaden their martial knowledge in different styles, and by not making a strict syllabus for his system was unheard of even years after the decline of the art.

I drink to your memory Eddy

[Shinobi_Kokujin]

yaaaay...go Bartitsu. cool moustache

[Spinach]

Originally Posted by Shinobi_Kokujin

yaaaay...go Bartitsu. cool moustache

Yeah. His moustache does it for me too. Go the mo!

I wish had a mo like that... Ah, the days of good fashion are long gone.

[TKDaddict]

I wonder does anyone practise it now?

[kuroitaka]

that's a very good effort kenpodog , really nice to know that the westerns were up to date in fighting systems and combative arts really nice effort .
and as TKDaddict said does anyone practise it now?
and if u please if u could find more about its princples that would be great .
thank u so much .

[marksmarkou]

A lot of people think that fighting which incorporated punches kicks and wrestling (with submission) is a new thing. Ancient Greeks where doing it thousands of years ago and probably people were doing it before that.

[kuroitaka]

the pharaos too man .