巴頓術:福爾摩斯曾經用的防身術
When the guy swung at Mark Donnelly, his only means of defense was a black umbrella -- and a foppish one at that. But, ducking under a roundhouse punch, he jabbed the pointy end of the umbrella into the attacker's gut, stopping him cold.
皮斯卡塔韋，新澤西──當這個男人向馬克•唐納利(Mark Donnelly)發起猛攻時，他唯一的自衛武器就是一把黑色的雨傘──一把紈口氣息很重的雨傘。但就在彎腰躲避狠狠一擊時，他將傘尖頂住攻擊者的腹部，終結了對方的進攻。
Mr. Donnelly, who is 43 years old and several inches short of 6 feet tall, then straightened his waistcoat, and the two men shook hands.
然後，這個43歲，身高接近一米八的男人捋了捋他的馬甲，跟他的攻擊者握了握手。
The skirmish was a rare deMonstration of Bartitsu, an obscure Victorian system of gentlemanly self-defense practiced by Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective.
這場小格鬥是巴頓術(Bartitsu)的展示，它並不常見，並且帶有一絲維多利亞時期的紳士氣息。柯南•道爾爵士(Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)筆下的傳奇偵探福爾摩斯就曾用巴頓術進行格鬥。
Mr. Donnelly's assailant was 42-year-old Robert Earhart, a professional stuntman in protective gear.
攻擊唐納利的是42歲的羅伯特•埃爾哈特(Robert Earhart)，一位全副武裝的職業特技演員。
'Is this a good weapon?' Mr. Donnelly, clutching the umbrella, asked a crowd of several dozen here last weekend at the Steampunk World's Fair, an annual steam-age science-fiction festival. 'It is if it's in my hands at the time of attack.'
上週末，一年一度的蒸汽朋克世界博覽會(Steampunk World’s Fair)如期而至。在這個以蒸汽時代的科幻小說爲主題的慶典上，唐納利手握雨傘，向觀衆提問：“各位覺得雨傘當武器怎麼樣？如果它在我手中，就是最好的進攻武器。”
Other items in the Bartitsu arsenal include walking sticks, top hats, snuffboxes, handkerchiefs or 'any item a gentleman would have at his disposal,' says Mr. Donnelly.
巴頓術裏其它的武器還包括手杖、禮帽、鼻菸盒、手帕以及“紳士可以隨手取用的任何物品”，唐納利如此說道。
The system was long thought to be part of the fictional world of Sherlock Holmes. But in the past decade, a handful of martial-arts enthusiasts, historians and Holmes scholars have rediscovered Bartitsu by piecing together archival newspaper and magazine clippings from turn-of-the-century London, among other sources. These include such articles as a 'Defense Against Hooligans,' tips on 'Conducting a Person Out of the Room,' or methods for overcoming an 'assailant who seizes you by the waistbelt.'
這套格鬥體系一直以來都被視爲福爾摩斯小說的一部分。但在過去十年中，一些武術愛好者、歷史學家以及研究福爾摩斯的學者，通過收集世紀之交時期倫敦的報紙、雜誌和其它信息來源，讓巴頓術重放光彩。這些文章包括《如何抵禦街頭流氓》(Defense Against Hooligans）、《將對手引出房間指南》(Conducting a Person Out of the Room)，以及如何用一些實用方法來“掙脫抓住你腰帶的對手”。
'Holmes is fictional. Bartitsu is real,' says Mr. Donnelly, who lives in Harrisburg, Pa.
住在賓夕法尼亞州哈里斯堡(Harrisburg)的唐納利說，“小說是虛構的，但巴頓術卻貨真價實。”
In a nod to its Victorian roots, many students arrive for training sessions in suits or hooped skirts, with watch fobs, bowler hats and pantaloons. Mr. Donnelly's seminars last weekend included 'Kicking Ass in a Corset: Bartitsu for Ladies.'
爲了遵照維多利亞傳統，許多前來培訓的學生都穿了正裝或裝有裙環的裙子，配着懷錶鏈、圓頂高帽和燈籠馬褲。唐納利上週的課程包括“女士巴頓術：穿緊身胸衣也能當海扁王”。
'I was a big fan of Kung Fu movies in the 1970s,' says Rachel Klingberg, a 41-year-old Pace University Web developer, about her early interest in martial arts. Growing up, however, she found most combat disciplines too formal. Two years ago, she founded the New York Bartitsu Club, since that seemed like more fun.
“在70年代的時候，我很迷中國功夫。”美國佩斯大學(Pace University)41歲的網頁開發員蕾切爾•克林貝格(Rachel Klingberg)談起了她兒時對武術的喜愛。可是長大後她發現大多數格鬥課都過於正式。兩年前，本着自衛加樂趣的理念，她創立了紐約巴頓術俱樂部(New York Bartitsu Club)。
These days, it has more than 200 members, and anywhere from 20 to 40 people turn up for periodic classes at the club's Manhattan studio -- a donated space it shares with a Jedi Knight group, she says.
她說，時至今日，這個俱樂部已有200多名會員，曼哈頓工作室的每節課都有20到40人蔘加。這個工作室也是別人捐贈的，需要同絕地武士協會(Jedi Knight)合用。
Many credit Bartitsu's resurgence to Tony Wolf, a New Zealand-born martial-arts instructor who brought together its early supporters by posting archival materials on his website, the Electronic Journals of Martial Arts and Sciences, as far back as 2001.
許多人把巴頓術的興起歸功於一名新西蘭武術指導託尼•沃爾夫(Tony Wolf)。他自2001年起就在個人網站“武術與科學電子版”(Electronic Journals of Martial Arts and Science)上發佈文獻資料，也由此聚集了一羣巴頓術的早期愛好者。
'We spent years compiling research. It was all collecting dust,' says Mr. Wolf, a combat specialist trained in Taekwondo, kickboxing, freestyle wrestling, Brazilian capoeira, Filipino stick and knife fighting and other combat skills. Mr. Wolf designed fighting styles for battle scenes in Peter Jackson's 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy.
沃爾夫說，“我們花了許多年來蒐集資料，但是收效甚微。”作爲一名格鬥專家，沃爾夫在跆拳道、自由搏擊、自由摔跤、巴西格鬥、截拳道短棍格鬥、刀戰和其它格鬥領域都訓練有素。他也爲彼得•傑克遜(Peter Jackson)執導的《指環王》三部曲設計了打鬥場面。What he uncovered was the story of Edward William Barton-Wright, a British engineer who was born in India and lived in Japan in the 1890s. Back in London, Mr. Barton-Wright combined the Asian fighting skills he learned abroad, such as judo and jujitsu, with Western European styles of boxing, savate or kickboxing, and stick fighting. He coined the term Bartitsu by joining his own name with jujitsu.
正是他發現了愛德華•威廉•巴頓-懷特(Edward William Barton-Wright)的故事。這個英國工程師生於印度，曾於19世紀90年代在日本生活。回到倫敦後，巴頓-懷特將其在國外所學的亞洲格鬥技巧如柔道和柔術，同西歐的拳擊、法國踢打術、自由搏擊和棍術相結合，並取柔術(jujitsu)以及自己的名字(Barton)，創立了巴頓術(Bartitsu)這一說法。
The basic approach was to knock an attacker off kilter, while striking at vulnerable spots with the hands, feet or a makeshift weapon. In close combat -- that is, without the aid of a cane or an umbrella -- this meant knocking an opponent off balance by straining his neck, elbow or knee joints.
巴頓術的基本方法就是通過用手、腳、或簡易武器攻擊對手的關鍵部位，使其失去平衡。在進行近身格鬥，即無法藉助手杖或雨傘的幫助時，通過讓對手的頸部、肘部或者膝關節儘可能緊張而失去平衡。
The goal wasn't to pummel an enemy, but rather to avoid 'injury in cowardly attacks or quarrels,' Mr. Barton-Wright told members of the Japan Society of London in a 1901 lecture, according to notes unearthed by researchers. By then, he had established the Bartitsu Academy of Arms and Physical Culture in London's Soho district.
1901年在倫敦日本協會(Japan Society of London)演講時，巴頓-懷特援引了研究學者的資料，他提到巴頓術的目標並非連續攻擊對手，而是避免“狗急跳 帶來的傷害”。在那時，他已經在倫敦的蘇豪區(SOHO District)成立了武器與健康文化巴頓術學會(Bartitsu Academy of Arms and Physical Culture)。
Alas, the club abruptly shut its doors in 1902. 'No one knows why, it's a complete mystery,' says Mr. Wolf. What is known is that the club's trainers went on to open their own self-defense schools, or fought for money in British music-hall revues.
遺憾的是，這個俱樂部在1902年就解散了。沃爾夫說：“沒人知道原因。這就像個迷一樣。”迄今所知的是，俱樂部的培訓師不是自立門戶、創立自衛學校，就是在英國音樂廳的時事諷刺劇上爲錢爭得不可開交。
In time, Bartitsu might have vanished completely, Mr. Wolf says, were it not for a single passage in 'The Adventure of the Empty House,' a Sherlock Holmes mystery by Conan Doyle set in 1894.
沃爾夫提到，如果不是因爲柯南•道爾爵士在1894年寫了《空屋》(The Adventure of the Empty House)這一福爾摩斯偵探故事，巴頓術可能已經徹底消失了。
In the story, Holmes appears to return from the dead after tumbling over Switzerland's Reichenbach Falls in a final battle with his nemesis, Professor Moriarty, in a scene at the end of a previous Holmes story.
在前一個故事的結尾中，福爾摩斯同宿敵莫里亞蒂教授(Professor Moriarty)決戰後跌入瑞士的萊辛巴赫瀑布(Reichenbach Falls)，在《空屋》裏他卻奇蹟生還了。
Instead, Conan Doyle has Holmes explain to Dr. Watson, his assistant, that he escaped Moriarty's clutches on the edge of the falls through ' 'baritsu,' or the Japanese system of wrestling.'
柯南•道爾爵士借福爾摩斯之口向其助手華生(Dr. Watson)解釋，說他能在瀑布邊緣從莫里亞蒂手中逃走，得歸功於“‘拔頓術(Baritsu)’，一種日式摔跤術”。
'He misspelled it,' Mr. Wolf says of Conan Doyle's apparent typo.
沃爾夫說起柯南•道爾的疏忽，“他把名字給寫錯啦”。
More than 100 years later, that brief reference has paid off for Bartitsu's contemporary supporters. In 2009, film director Guy Ritchie released 'Sherlock Holmes,' a British-American co-production starring Robert Downey Jr. in the title role.
一百多年後的今天，書中對巴頓術的簡明援引終於找到了當代的支持者。導演蓋•裏奇(Guy Ritchie)在2009年將《大偵探福爾摩斯》(Sherlock Holmes)搬上了大熒幕，這部英美聯制的電影邀請到了小羅伯特•唐尼(Robert Downey Jr. )出演福爾摩斯這一角色。
The film -- and a sequel two years later, 'Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows' -- included fight scenes based in part on Mr. Barton-Wright's original texts collected by Mr. Wolf's Bartitsu Society. 'That brought Bartitsu to a very broad audience,' Mr. Wolf says.
這部電影，以及兩年後發行的續集《大偵探福爾摩斯：詭影遊戲》(Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows)中的打鬥場面，一部分就來源於沃爾夫的巴頓術協會(Bartitsu Society)收集到的巴頓-懷特的初始資料。沃爾夫對此津津樂道：“這樣就可以讓更多的人瞭解巴頓術了。”
Back in Piscataway, Brett Kelley, a 29-year-old liquor-store clerk from Cape Cod, was learning to block a punch. Over his shoulder, a group of smartly dressed men and women were lunging back and forth with canes.
來自美國科德角(Cape Cod)的佈雷特•凱利(Brett Kelley)重返皮斯卡塔韋(Piscataway)，29歲的他正學習如何抵擋拳擊。一羣衣着亮麗的男女在他身後揮舞着手杖。
'It makes for a great hands-on history lesson,' he says, after jamming his foot against a trainer's padded shin.
他把腳猛地踢進培訓師的小腿中間，然後說，“這門課很棒，可以親身感受歷史。”
Mr. Donnelly, who earlier in the day led a seminar on Kernoozers, a mysterious Victorian England antiquarian fight club, and Antiquarian Antagonists, agrees that Bartitsu's value is more historical than it is a practical means of self-defense today -- though, he adds, it would be easy to substitute a Starbucks cup for a snuffbox, blinding an attacker with hot coffee rather than a cloud of snuff.
唐納利早些時候舉辦了一場關於維多利亞時期古典搏擊俱樂部的研討會。他同意巴頓術在當下的歷史價值大於自我防禦的實際意義。他說，手邊更容易拿到的是星巴克的馬克杯而不是鼻菸盒，想要阻擋襲擊者的視線，將熱咖啡潑在臉上的確比吹起一團鼻菸灰省事多了。
