Bartitsu Club walking stick self defence piearre vigny

Bartitsu UK.

Welcome to Bartitsu UK. This is a site dedicated to the Bartitsu walking stick self-defence system created by Professor Perre Vigny and taught at the Bartitsu Club London between 1900 and 1903. The Bartitsu cane system is simple and effective and was designed to be learned in 12 lessons. I offer private lessons in both Worthing West Sussex, and Hebden Bridge West Yorkshire, and online lessons wherever you are. The Vigny/Bartitsu syllabus can be found in my book "Bartitsu the Walking Stick Method of Self Defence"

If you would like more information on Bartitsu lessons, please feel free to contact me by clicking here Bartitsu contact form.


bartitsu sherlock holmes martial art

The Martial art of Sherlock Holmes

The demise of Sherlock Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls, locked in a death-grip with his arch-enemy Professor Moriarty, created such consternation with the reading public that his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was forced to resurrect the famous detective in a subsequent title. But how had Holmes survived this deadly battle? What secret skill had he used to defeat his mortal enemy and avoid the water’s cruel embrace? It transpired that the intrepid sleuth had saved himself with “Baritsu.” His skill in this “Japanese system of wrestling” enabled him to slip through Moriarty’s icy grip and cast the evil professor to his doom. But did this curious art called Baritsu exist? Strangely enough, it did, and wrestling was certainly involved. However, Conan Doyle had been mistaken about one thing, the spelling. How this happened is unclear. One possibility is that he wanted to avoid any copyright issues with the founder of this system, known as “Bartitsu,” martial artist, impresario and grand Edwardian showman Edward William Barton-Wright.


Edward William Barton-Wright Bartitsu

Edward Barton-Wright

was born in India in 1860 to an English father and Scottish mother. He was educated in Europe and travelled the world operating mining concessions. During a three-year stay in Japan, he became interested in Jiu-Jitsu, taking lessons at the school of Jigoro Kano. In 1898, he returned to Britain, and in 1900 he established the “Bartitsu School of Arms and Physical Culture” at 67b, Shaftesbury Avenue, London. Various forms of self-defence were taught at the school, including wrestling and savate. He also arranged for two judo experts to travel from Japan, Yukio Tani and Sadakazu Uyenishi. These two masters became the earliest Japanese emissaries for JiuJitsu in Britain.
In a talk to the Japan Society in 1901, Barton-Wright said:
“Under Bartitsu is included boxing or the use of the fist as a hitting medium, the use of the feet both in an offensive and defensive sense, the use of the walking stick as a means of self-defence.”
In 1901, he wrote a two-part illustrated feature for Pearson’s Magazine entitled: “Self defence with a walking stick.” He gave full credit for the system to “a Swiss Professor of Arms M. Vigny.”


bartitsu walking stick defence pierre vigny

Pierre Vigny

was born in Paris in 1866. In the mid-1880s, he joined the Second Regiment of French Artillery at Grenoble, where he obtained the title of maitre d’armes. After leaving the services, he opened a boxing academy in Geneva and a fencing salle in Evian-les-Bains. In 1899, he relocated to London and accepted an invitation from the Bartitsu Academy to teach La Canne and Savate.
Vigny learned his skills in the military, where the tradition of La Canne was established in 1851 by the Joinville-Le-Pont School. The military-style was different to the civilian. Military parries had the tip of the stick pointing downwards, and strikes could be given with either hand. This combination of ambidexterity and tip-down parries became the hallmark of the Vigny style. His method combined maximum personal safety with a fearsome offensive capability. The syllabus was also easy to learn; Vigny stated that his whole system could be mastered in just 12 lessons.


Taken from "Bartitsu the Walking Stick Method of Self-Defence" by G.D. Owen


bartitsu walking stick self-defence