Reviving Bartitsu: A Conversation with Tony Wolf

This episode addresses the history, decline, and modern revival of Bartitsu, an eclectic system developed in Edwardian England by Edward Barton-Wright that combines Japanese jiu-jitsu with other styles such as savate. Made famous by Barton-Wright through appearances on the musical stage, the system was marketed first to upper-class and then to middle-class men and women as a means of protecting themselves from the (real or imagined) threat of hooliganism. After Barton-Wright’s club closed, bartitsu gained a second wave of fame due to its inclusion in a Sherlock Holmes novel. In this conversation, Tony discusses his personal martial-arts journey, development of the Wolf System, and his efforts to study and document the history of bartitsu.