The history of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ)

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History of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Helio Gracie - modified classical jujitsu into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

A Japanese jujitsu expert and judoka, prizefighter, and former member of the Kodokan named Mitsuyo Maeda, also known as Count Koma, emigrated to Brazil in the 1910s where an influential businessman named Gastão Gracie helped him get established. In return for his aid, Maeda taught the fighting art of Jujitsu to Gastão's son Carlos Gracie, who then taught the art to his brothers, including Hélio Gracie.

Hélio had the opportunity to teach a class while Carlos was absent. He soon realized that most of the techniques could be adapted in a way to increase leverage therefore minimizing the force needed to execute the moves.

Through Hélio's experiments early on, and constant technical refinement in training and real fighting, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as we know it today was created. Some argue that the differences are more in culture and moral goals than in the physical principles and techniques of BJJ, however the considerable differences between BJJ and the Japanese styles include the use of strikes on the ground, and holds and joint locks forbidden in the sport of Judo.

Another main difference is that Judo, especially in its Olympic sport form, emphasizes throws, while Jiu-Jitsu focuses on submitting the opponent using arm locks, foot locks or chokes. Judo has a much higher amount of referee intervention; in Judo matches, the competitors are often returned to the standing position, while in Jiu-Jitsu matches, the participants are generally allowed to remain on the ground throughhout the entire match.

Other contributing factors to the stylistic divergence of BJJ include the Gracie's desire to create a national martial art, the influence of Brazilian culture, the Gracies emphasis on full-contact fighting (vale tudo) and self-defense, the post World War II closing of the Kodokan by the American Occupation Authority (which were only allowed to reopen on the condition that emphasis be shifted towards sport), as well as the Gracies' own additions to the body of technique and theories regarding self-defense, martial arts and training methods; and, more recently, the influence of mixed-martial-art competitions such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pride Fighting Championship.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu first became internationally prominent in the martial arts community in the 1990s, when Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert Royce Gracie won several single elimination martial arts tournaments called the Ultimate Fighting Championships against sometimes much larger opponents who were practicing other styles, including

• boxing, shoot-fighting , karate, judo, tae kwon do and wrestling.

The remarkable success of BJJ versus the other martial arts has been attributed primarily to the unique Gracie methods, and the critical importance of ground grappling techniques neglected by those arts.

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