The origins and history of
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Jigoro Kano
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The originsBJJ has its roots in Japanese Kodokan Judo, which was originally adapted from Japanese Jujutsu by Jigoro Kano (pictured left).
As a martial art, Judo incorporated the throwing techniques from Japanese Jujutsu as well as the groundwork, however the focus on the ground was limited relative to the evolution of BJJ. In 1904, Mitsuyo Maeda (image below), one of Jigoro Kano’s top Judo groundwork experts, was sent overseas to demonstrate and spread the art to the rest of the world. He left Japan to travel the world teaching Judo, with a special emphasis on the ground fighting techniques. Maeda arrived in Brazil in 1914 and began teaching. One of his earliest students was Carlos Gracie of the famed Gracie family, who studied under Maeda for around five years. |
Mitsuyo Maeda Image: Wikipedia
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In 1916, Gastão Gracie, a business partner of the American Circus approached Maeda to present his art at the circus in northern Brazil city of Belém.
In 1917 Carlos Gracie (eldest son of Gastão Gracie) watched a ‘Kano Jiu-Jitsu’ demonstration by Maeda at the Da Paz Theatre and from there he decided he wanted to learn Kano Jiu Jitsu. Maeda accepted Carlos as a student. Maeda taught Carlos for a number of years, and passed his knowledge on to his brothers. Gracie's account of the events is that his younger sibling Hélio Gracie gradually developed Gracie jiu-jitsu as a softer, more ground fighting with the leverage aspect of Jiu-Jitsu/Judo rather than the throws. Due to his size and lack of ability to overcome larger sized opponents strength, he was unable to perform many Judo throws and therefore adapted to his benefit. |
Although the Gracie family is typically recognised as the main family to first promote Brazilian jiu-jitsu as it is known today, there was also another prominent lineage derived from Maeda via another Brazilian disciple, Luiz França. This discipline was taught to Italian legend of the sport Marco Donello who later on passed his extensive knowledge to Mark McDonnell (his Australian nephew). This lineage had been represented particularly by Oswaldo Fadda. Fadda and his students were famous for the influential use of footlocks, and the lineage still survives through Fadda's links in teams such as Nova União and Grappling Fight Team (GF Team).
The Gracie Family
Gastão Gracie became a business partner of the American Circus in Belém. In 1916, the Italian Argentine Queirolo Brothers staged circus shows there and presented Mitsuyo Maeda, a Japanese judoka and prize fighter. Gastão Gracie also was responsible for helping Maeda establish a Japanese community in Brazil. In 1917, Carlos Gracie, the eldest son of Gastão Gracie, watched a demonstration by Mitsuyo Maeda at the Da Paz Theatre and decided to learn judo. Mitsuyo Maeda, also known as Conde Koma thus accepted to teach Gastão's son Carlos as a thank you to Gastão for helping him get settled. In 1921, however, following financial hardship and his own father Pedro's demise, Gastão Gracie returned to Rio de Janeiro with his family.
Maeda's teachings were then passed on through local Rio de Janeiro coaches to Carlos and brothers Oswaldo, Gastão Jr., George, and Hélio. There's a version saying that Helio was too young and slow at that time to learn the art and due to his medical imposition was prohibited to physically partake in training, but it is now known that he became a coxswain for the local rowing team as well as a competitive swimmer. Hélio successfully learned the art of Jiu Jitsu by watching his older brothers train, but due to his fragile condition instead of using pure strength Hélio learned to use leverage and specific body movements to successfully submit his opponents. Therefore, today Hélio Gracie is considered the man responsible for developing Brazilian jiu-jitsu into what it is today.
For a number of years, the Gracie family ran a competitive monopoly on vale tudo events. Through their competitive rise, the men allocated power and influence with which they sought to promote Gracie family members within the vale tudo community.
Maeda's teachings were then passed on through local Rio de Janeiro coaches to Carlos and brothers Oswaldo, Gastão Jr., George, and Hélio. There's a version saying that Helio was too young and slow at that time to learn the art and due to his medical imposition was prohibited to physically partake in training, but it is now known that he became a coxswain for the local rowing team as well as a competitive swimmer. Hélio successfully learned the art of Jiu Jitsu by watching his older brothers train, but due to his fragile condition instead of using pure strength Hélio learned to use leverage and specific body movements to successfully submit his opponents. Therefore, today Hélio Gracie is considered the man responsible for developing Brazilian jiu-jitsu into what it is today.
For a number of years, the Gracie family ran a competitive monopoly on vale tudo events. Through their competitive rise, the men allocated power and influence with which they sought to promote Gracie family members within the vale tudo community.
Carlos and younger brother Helio. Helio's son's Rickson and brother Royce Gracie
Carlos Gracie (1902 - 1994)
Born in Belem, Brasil, Carlos moved his family to Rio de Jenerio where her trained with Maeda. It has been said that while Carlos was instructing, his younger brother Helio stepped in to teach a class and modified his techniques to his less robust body shape. Carlos saw how theses techniques compensated for Helio's lack of strength and together they developed the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy. Carlos trained his sons and nephews and expanded his Academy, which still lives in his sons today.
- The first of eight children
- Thirteen of Carlo's 21 children have achieved the black belt ranking
- At the time of death, Carlos had 106 grandchildren, 128 great-grandchildren
- 10th Degree Red Belt
HELLIO GRACIE (1913 - 2009)
Helio was the youngest if seven children and was considered much more frail and weaker than his brother Carlos, see above on how Helio became a BJJ fighter. Helio's first fight was at the age of 18.
- 10th Degree Red Belt
- MMA Record: 10-3-8 (Vale Tudo)
RICKSON GRACIE (b. 1958)
Helio Gracie’s third son, Rickson, was born November 21, 1958, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. By the age of five, he had already begun to show the grappling prowess he would become famous for later in life. By fifteen he was instructing students in the martial art his father and uncle had created to showcase technique and leverage over brawn. No one was surprised when Helio awarded his most promising pupil a black belt soon after Rickson’s 18th birthday. Rickson spent almost a decade fighting in Brazil with his biggest win coming over a 230-pound undefeated No Holds Barred fighter, Rei Zulu, in front of 20,000 fans. He left for America soon after to help his brothers open the Gracie Academy in Torrance, California. After leaving his home country, all of Rickson’s fights took place in Japan. Every match ended with the same result, a win by submission for the Gracie fighter. He soon established himself as one of the greatest fighters of all time. After retiring from fighting, he remains active teaching and promoting Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu around the world.
Interesting Fact: Rickson was one side of the greatest MMA fight that never happened. He was scheduled to fight Kazushi Sakuraba, known as the “Gracie Killer” for his wins against Royler, Renzo, Ryan, and Royce. Tragically, Rickson’s son Rockson died unexpectedly months before the bout was scheduled to take place. Devastated, Rickson withdrew and subsequently retired from competition.
Highest Grappling Achievement: 8th Degree Coral Belt, Multiple BJJ World Champion, Samba World Gold Medalist, Brazilian Freestyle Wrestling Champion.
MMA Record: 11-0 (11 Submission Victories)
Interesting Fact: Rickson was one side of the greatest MMA fight that never happened. He was scheduled to fight Kazushi Sakuraba, known as the “Gracie Killer” for his wins against Royler, Renzo, Ryan, and Royce. Tragically, Rickson’s son Rockson died unexpectedly months before the bout was scheduled to take place. Devastated, Rickson withdrew and subsequently retired from competition.
Highest Grappling Achievement: 8th Degree Coral Belt, Multiple BJJ World Champion, Samba World Gold Medalist, Brazilian Freestyle Wrestling Champion.
MMA Record: 11-0 (11 Submission Victories)
Royce gracie (b. 1965)
Royce may not have been the most talented fighter in the Gracie family, but he is arguably the most famous. Born December 12, 1966, in Rio de Janeiro, he began training BJJ at the age of five and received his black belt at 18. Soon after, he left for California to help his brothers open the famed Gracie Academy in Torrance. Royce burst onto the world stage in 1993 when he was chosen to represent Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in a no holds barred event to determine the greatest martial art in the world, UFC 1. The physically unimposing Royce was the perfect candidate to prove his father’s claim that BJJ was the great equalizer in combat, relying on technique and leverage to overcome strength. Royce went on to defeat three opponents and claim the first of three titles in the promotion. Royce’s impressive showing introduced the world to Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and started a martial arts empire still alive today. Royce left the UFC and continued his fighting career in Japan where he became a fan favourite and cemented his place as a legend of MMA. Now retired, he continues to promote Gracie Jiu-Jitsu through teaching and seminars.
Interesting Fact: Helio Gracie claimed he chose Royce to compete at UFC 1 over Rickson because Royce was not as physically intimidating and would prove definitively that Gracie Jiu-Jitsu worked against larger opponents. Others, including promoter Bob Davies, have claimed Rickson was the first choice but he demanded too much money to appear, so Royce was given the opportunity by default.
Highest Grappling Achievement: 7th Degree Black Belt
MMA Record: 15-5
Interesting Fact: Helio Gracie claimed he chose Royce to compete at UFC 1 over Rickson because Royce was not as physically intimidating and would prove definitively that Gracie Jiu-Jitsu worked against larger opponents. Others, including promoter Bob Davies, have claimed Rickson was the first choice but he demanded too much money to appear, so Royce was given the opportunity by default.
Highest Grappling Achievement: 7th Degree Black Belt
MMA Record: 15-5
The name: Jiu Jitsu
When Maeda left Japan, judo was still often referred to as "Kano jiu-jitsu", or, even more generically, simply as jiu-jitsu.
Outside Japan, however, this distinction was noted even less. Thus, when Maeda and Satake arrived in Brazil in 1914, every newspaper announced their art as being "jiu-jitsu", despite both men being Kodokan judoka.
It was not until 1925 that the Japanese government itself officially mandated that the correct name for the martial art taught in the Japanese public schools should be "judo" rather than "jujutsu". In Brazil, the art is still called "jiu-jitsu". When the Gracies went to the United States and spread jiu-jitsu, they used the terms "Gracie jiu-jitsu" and non-Gracies using the term "Brazilian jiu-jitsu" to differentiate from the already present styles using similar-sounding names. In a 1994 interview with Yoshinori Nishi, Hélio Gracie said that he did not even know the word Judo itself until the sport came in the 1950s to Brazil, because he heard that Mitsuyo Maeda called his style "jiu-jitsu".
Outside Japan, however, this distinction was noted even less. Thus, when Maeda and Satake arrived in Brazil in 1914, every newspaper announced their art as being "jiu-jitsu", despite both men being Kodokan judoka.
It was not until 1925 that the Japanese government itself officially mandated that the correct name for the martial art taught in the Japanese public schools should be "judo" rather than "jujutsu". In Brazil, the art is still called "jiu-jitsu". When the Gracies went to the United States and spread jiu-jitsu, they used the terms "Gracie jiu-jitsu" and non-Gracies using the term "Brazilian jiu-jitsu" to differentiate from the already present styles using similar-sounding names. In a 1994 interview with Yoshinori Nishi, Hélio Gracie said that he did not even know the word Judo itself until the sport came in the 1950s to Brazil, because he heard that Mitsuyo Maeda called his style "jiu-jitsu".
Source: Wikipedia
