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31 May 2011
History of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu began with Mitsuyo Maeda, an expert Japanese martial artist and member of the Kodokan. Maeda was one of five of the Kodokan's top groundwork experts that judo's founder Kano Jigoro sent abroad to spread his art to the world. Maeda left Japan in 1904 and visited a number of countries giving "jiu-do" demonstrations and accepting challenges from wrestlers, boxers, and various other martial artists before eventually arriving in Brazil on November 14, 1914.
It is often claimed that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a development of traditional Japanese jujutsu, and that Maeda was a jujutsuka. However, Maeda never trained in jujutsu. He first trained in sumo as a teenager. He then started training in judo, becoming a student of Kano's Kodokan judo. He was promoted to 7th dan in Kodokan judo the day before he died in 1941. Helio Gracie also held the rank of 6th dan in judo.
Upon is arrival in Brazil, Maeda met a businessman named Gastão Gracie who helped him get established. In 1916, his 14 year-old son Carlos Gracie watched a demonstration by Maeda at the Teatro da Paz (Theatre of Peace) and decided to learn the art. Maeda accepted Carlos as a student.
In 1921, Gastão Gracie and his family moved to Rio de Janeiro. Carlos, then 17 years old, passed Maeda's teachings on to his brothers Osvaldo, Gastão and Jorge. Hélio was too young and sick at that time to learn the art, and due to medical imposition was prohibited to take part in the training sessions. Despite that, Hélio learned from watching his brothers. He eventually overcame his health problems and is now considered by many as the founder of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (though others, such as Carlson Gracie, have pointed to Carlos as the founder of the art).
The Gracie family continued to develop the system throughout the 20th century, often fighting vale tudo matches (precursors to modern MMA), during which it increased its focus on ground fighting and refined its techniques. When the Gracies started their re-rooting to the United States to spread their art, they named their fighting system "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu" and "Gracie Jiu-Jitsu." "Jiu-jitsu" is an older romanization that was the original spelling of the art in the West, and it is still in common use, whereas the modern romanization is "jūjutsu." Other common spellings are "jujitsu" and "ju-jitsu".
The art is sometimes referred to as Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (GJJ), but this name is trademarked by Rorion Gracie and specifically refers to the style taught by him. Other members of the Gracie family often call their style by personalized names, such as Charles Gracie Jiu-Jitsu or Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, and similarly, the Machado brothers call their style Machado Jiu-Jitsu (MJJ). While each style and its instructors have their own unique aspects, they are all basic variations of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and all branches can trace their roots back to Mitsuyo Maeda and the Gracie family.
Today, the main differences between the BJJ styles are between traditional Gracie Jiu-Jitsu's emphasis on self-defense, and Sport Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu's orientation towards competition. There is a large commonality of techniques between the two. Also, there is a wide variety of ideals in training in different schools in terms of the utilization of technique versus how much to attempt to overpower an opponent. Authentic Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was founded to bridge the Today, the main differences between the BJJ styles are between traditional Gracie Jiu-Jitsu's emphasis on self-defense, and Sport Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu's orientation towards competition. There is a large commonality of techniques between the two. Also, there is a wide variety of ideals in training in different schools in terms of the utilization of technique versus how much to attempt to overpower an opponent. Authentic Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was founded to bridge the gap.
