savate
Bartitsu, The Fighting Style Of Detective Sherlock Holmes
The latest blockbuster movie starring Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as his trusted asstistant, Dr. Watson, puts some serious martial art skills on display.
People have been asking me what style it actually represents and I must admit I had to do some research which has been a lot of fun.
Here is what I found out:
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author and the creator of the literary figure, better known as Sherlock Holmes, referred to his main character’s fighting style as ‘Baritsu’, which turns out is just missing one letter to be entirely correct.
The martial art is called ‘Bartitsu’ and was named by E.W. Barton-Wright.
Barton-Wright had lived in Japan in the late 19th century and studied Jiu-Jitsu, among others with Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo.
Returning to his native London, he conferred with several martial arts experts in boxing, Savate, walking-stick fighting and Jiu-Jitsu, to create his own system which would incorporate several aspects of a ‘Gentlemanly Art of Self Defence’.
Bartitsu became very popular in the very early 20th century, not only among men, but among women, who also very effectively used their umbrellas to defend themselves against big city London thieves and criminals.
Unfortunately, there was a falling out between Barton-Wright and his Japanese star student/instructor and his successful Bartitsu self -defense system along with school literally vanished overnight.
The Bartitsu Society that is reviving this century-old self-defense system provided the following video documentary. Enjoy!
Bruce Lee One-On-One With Kareem Abdul Jabbar
If you’re into any style of martial art that involves high kicks every now and then such as taekwondo, karate, kung fu, muay thai, savate, kick-boxing and others, you have probably encountered the challenge of executing the perfect high kick.
Let’s say you’re 5’10″ and you nail a kick at your opponent’s temple who happens to be 6’1″.
Who wouldn’t consider that to be quite a feat?!
Bruce Lee was able to take similar challenges to unchartered heights.
According to a number of reports, Bruce Lee was 5 feet 7 1/2 inches tall.
So, normally in our equation it would be pretty good to execute a high roundhouse kick or similar to the head of an opponent who was around 6 feet tall, right?
That wasn’t good enough for Bruce Lee. He picked an opponent for his movie “Game of Death”, who was 18 1/2 inches taller.
His opponent’s name was Kareem Abdul Jabbar who at the time was a NBA star still playing for the Milwaukee Bucks and measured 7 feet 2 inches in height.
As we know a picture can say more than a thousand words.
So let’s just enjoy 5 minutes of a martial arts movie classic with Bruce Lee vs. Kareem Abdul Jabbar in “Game of Death”.
Savate Or How The French Really Can Fight
Well, alright, so ‘La Grande Nation’ is known for fashion, wine, cheese, croissants, the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysses etc.
We have also been led to believe that the French are masters in retreat and surrender.
So how did they then ever become a Colonial Power?
Are you telling me they acquired all those colonies and had all this influence on several continents by simply sweet talking over a glass of Beaujolais?
I beg to differ.
And whoever said the French run away from every fight?
Without the Marquis de Lafayette and his fellow Frenchmen, the thirteen colonies wouldn’t have attained independence from King George to be come the United States of America, at least not that fast!
And let’s not forget the venerable French Foreign Legion:
Whenever these guys are deployed to clean up some corrupt thug-infested Third World country you know who’s gonna be on the receiving end of a serious beating.
And yes, I am aware that the French Foreign Legion is made up of a lot of ….. foreigners, alas non-French.
Nevertheless, French make up the majority and run the show. And what a show it is.
Years ago, I met a former Legionaire who was originally from Madagascar (the actual island off the coast of East Africa, not the animated movie!).
This was one very soft-spoken dude who told me a little about of his former military service, only after I noticed his French paratrooper “diploma” on his office wall.
He talked about his deployments in the 80′s as the opportunity given to him to do some “travelling”.
The destinations always turned out to be some places that were really wild in the 80′s like Lebanon and Chad. Heck, they probably still are, right?
But I digress….
Anyway, I came across a French fighting style that is extremely effective not only in the street where it was created in Paris and Northern France.
Mon dieu, this one will keep you on your toes and bobbing and weaving.
Savate contains elements of Western boxing and a number of kicking techniques, some of which remind me of Muay Thai and Wing Chun.
Savate translates in English to old shoe or boot. So, it’s no surprise that practitioners actually wear shoes while they’re at it.
Believe me when I tell you that Savate is a very effective fighting style to be reckoned with. O la la!
Check out the video clip below and let me know what you think!
Au revoir, mon ami!
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