George Bazley encounter with Legendary Yukio Tani

Yukio Tani was a pioneer of Japanese jujitsu who bought his wealth of knowledge to the United Kingdom where he became a professional wrestler.

In fact, the Japanese man was the first ever jujitsu artist to teach and compete outside of his homeland.

Studying at Fusen-ryu dojo, he developed his talent under master Mataemon Tanabe until 1900 where he and his brother Kaneo travelled to England after accepting an invite from Edward William Barton-Wright (founder of Bartitsu).

Unfortunately, his brother shortly returned home as he disagreed with the use of jujitsu as entertainment. Despite this, Tani would stay in England until his death in 1950.

In 1901, Barton-Wright held a lecture at the Japan Society in London. Tani demonstrated his skills with such ease he almost hypnotized the onlooking students.

The partnership with Barton-Wright began to plateau following the failure of a venture to setup a jujitsu school so in 1903, Tani decided to join forces with veteran promoter William Bankier thus beginning his pro wrestling career on the music hall circuit.

Bankier had been impressed with Tani since he visited him a Barton-Wright’s school.

He said “As Tani stands only five foot in height, the task before me seemed a light one. To my astonishment, he had me at his mercy in less than two minutes.”

Jujitsu was an alien technique of wrestling to many on the music hall circuit which enabled Tani to dazzle and impress the paying customers. Reservations about jujitsu were quickly scuppered due to the Japanese man’s ability.

The prize money to fight Tani was high, £1 for every minute you lasted or £5-£100 for winning, so he didn’t have a shortage of challengers.

Nicknamed the ‘Pocket Hercules’, due to his size, it is believed that he has only lost one fight against fellow compatriot Taro Mujake in 1905. Fighting over 500 competitors, many argued that it was unfair as he would only wrestle using jujitsu rules which were alien to many of his opponents.

Also, his record has been argued as research has suggested that he has also been beaten by Cornish Wrestling Champion Fred Richards Despite this, Tani was still a legend of the wrestling industry and was at the pinnacle of his sport for numerous years.

Ernest Grohn, five-time amateur lightweight champion, said “You couldn’t do anything with him. He was slippery as an eel. Of course, I lost.”

Top wrestlers held him a such a high regard considering he didn’t wrestle in the ‘normal’ way.

Touring the country, Tani did in fact lock horns with George Bazley at the Palace Theatre in Plymouth, November 1926

It was reported that Bazley appeared a “Giant in strength and youth compared to the 44-year-old Tani,”.

With the local crowd watching on in awe, the excitement grew as Bazley began the bout the strongest. But, after nearly eight minutes of grappling, Tani suddenly slung his leg over Bazley’s neck and choked him out.

Both fighters had immense respect for each other. In fact, Tani was a popular figure in Cornwell as he educated himself on the style and became efficient in practising with a Cornish jacket.

Bazley was heavily praised for his performance with the local newspaper saying, “He participated for the love of wrestling and for the prestige of his country, and he richly deserves praise.”

By Jon Bazley