Hi Will,

>In the 'tricks ' BW does, I noticed there is almost no striking, much like
>almost all
>
>the texts I have from around 1900.

Er ... I dunno, nearly half the "New Art" techniques feature atemi,
including a straight right cross to the breadbasket (the overcoat trick,)
rear headbutt, double-fist strike to the face, hammer chop behind the ear,
etc.

>Yet, we know BW put strikes in Bartitsu. At one point, BW seems
>
>to be about to kick his apponent. So how often did he use atemi, and was
>there any
>
>pressure in the culture not to strike, do you think? Comments?

No cultural pressure not to strike, as boxing was very much the English
ideal of self-defence, but perhaps there was some vestigial class/cultural
bias against kicking, and probably against real nasties (eye gouges, etc.)
as well. These may have been so far from gentlemanly behaviour that they
were not even considered or (more likely) may have been tacitly recognised
and even practiced, but would not be considered fit for publication. I
think B-W refers to his publisher having advised him not to include knife
counters in the Pearson's article.

Tony

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