Len Lanius: American JJ Pioneer

Longtime Cincinnati resident Leonard (“Len”) Lanius, born around 1865, claims he was the lightweight champion wrestler of the world at one point. That would have been around 1890 and I have verified that he did at least referee a match in 1894. In fact, the loser of the bout gave Lanius some lip, whereupon Lanius [...]

Jujutsu Suffragettes

On November 18, 1910…300 suffragettes marched on the House of Commons. In a public relations disaster, police were caught on film assaulting unarmed women attempting to march past.

Militant suffragettes eventually upped the physical level of their own campaigns and smashed shop windows, burned and even bombed on occasion…

Jack Dempsey vs. the Evil Robots

  “I can whip any mechanical robot that ever has or ever will be made.” So said Jack Dempsey. Captain Billy Fawcet, former WWI Army Captain, apparently talked Jack Dempsey into doing this puff piece for Fawcett’s biggest magazine, Modern Mechanix, in 1934. The idea of the early sci-fi robot battling the hard hitting fighter [...]

The Chopper: The Pugilist’s Backfist

The backfist, and by that I mean the direct backfist, not the spinning one, often gets a bad rap. Many view it as a technique that is useful for TKD practitioners to get a quick point in tournaments, but one that has little value otherwise. Boxers and kickboxers are particularly skeptical of its effectiveness because [...]

Mitsuyo Maeda vs. Hjalmar Lundin

This account of the January 1910 Mexico City match between Hjalmar Lundin and Mitsuyo Maeda of Brazilian jiu-jitsu fame (Konde Koma here, a common alias he used) comes from On the Mat-and Off by Hjalmar Lundin.

On the Mat-and Off by Hjalmar Lundin (1937)

A new reprint is now available that offers a nice counter balance to Fall Guys because it deals with wrestling in the days leading to that transition to complete entertainment rather than after. Lundin arrived in the U.S. in 1893 and was touring as a strongman by 1894. For decades following, he toured the U.S. [...]

Bartitsu FAQ

This is the Frequently Asked Questions post Tony Wolf publishes every now and again for the benefit of new members to the Bartitsu Forum. I thought this would be a good introduction and a good time to spread the word because work is now underway on Volume II of the Bartitsu Compendium. *************** Q – [...]

Was Savate’s Drop Kick from Pro Wrestling?

Of course that begs the question: Does savate possess the drop kick? Unless you’re a youngster, you’re probably familiar with the numerous books Bruce Tegner published primarily in the 1960s, one of which was a text on savate. Therein, Tegner demonstrated first a jumping drop kick from the standing position and then a leaping sidekick [...]

“Jiu-Jutsu or Jiu-Do” Now Available!

Jiu-Jutsu or Jiu-Do: Selection from Kodokwan Method by K. Yamanaka is our latest reprint. From the ad copy: This book is a must-have for martial artists, grapplers, and especially judo players. “Jiu-Jutsu or Jiu-Do” was originally printed in 1918 by an early Kodokan-trained judo master. As such, it offers the best English-language view of Kodokan [...]

Kung Fu Tricks & Other Fakery

Breaking stones with heads or hands, tearing phone books, performing amazing feats of strength and the like go waaaaaay back. The earliest accounts of martial art tricks/stunts I recall go back to the days of the Roman gladiators…

First Reprint Available: Fall Guys

Big news! The first martial reprint is available although it’s not the one I had expected to be ready first. C’est la vie. Anyway, I offer “Fall Guys: The Barnums of Bounce.” It was first published in 1937 by sports reporter Marcus Griffin who did his research and exposed the wrestling game, showing it to [...]

Skipping Belt Ranks

There are two threads regarding skipping ranks over on the Convocation of Combat Forum. Rather than wax on over there, I’ll wax off alone over here and then link to it. (Yikes, a Karate Kid and masturbation pun in the second sentence, this is going downhill fast). Anyway, the genesis of the debate arose when [...]

Jujutsu Humor

Another brief installment of jiu-jitsu humor from the Washington Post, 1-24-1905.  An Experiment in Jiu Jitsu. From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. When a footpad approaches you, seze him by the center of the arm and press your thumb violently against a nerve in the inner elbow joint. The footpad will then probably shoot five bulletholes [...]

Early Civilian Western Martial Arts

The following roundup represents a group that goes together in my head as Civilian/Self-Defense Martial Arts in the late Renaissance to early-Victorian eras. I chose to keep boxing manuals separate, because they are generally later than these manuals. Johann Georg Passchen’s Vollstandiges Ring-buch (1659). These other versions are probably based on Eli Steenput’s translation: HACA [...]

Jujutsu Humor

The early 1900s newspapers often poked fun at the “jiu-jitsu” invasion. Satirical pieces were written on the convolutions of jiu-jitsu holds, as metaphor for happenings in the Russo-Japanese war, and, of course, comparing jiu-jitsu to good old-fashioned wrestling. The couple lines below will be appreciated by the grapplers who have seen the endless debates over [...]