History and Origins of Jiu-Jitsu (The Gentle Art)
| Ancient Japan In Japan, we can trace jiu jitsu back as far as 23 B.C. to the origins of sumo wrestling. This ancient form of wrestling has evolved and has came into it’s own as a sport, but before that, it gave birth to the warrior art of jiu jitsu. The Bugei, or warriors, of ancient Japan were schooled in various ryu or methods of jiu jitsu depending upon location and which school had established dominance at the time. There has been official documentation of 725 schools of jiu jitsu which were greatly varied in the way that they approached combat. They dealt with weapons as well as empty hand techniques, but jiu jitsu was always considered secondary and supplementary to the Bugei’s main tools of the trade: weapons of war.Jiu jitsu had eventually earned quite a bad reputation for itself. Schools would often battle for supremacy and compete for the local economy. Injuries were frequent and the schools had turned into places where only the toughest and roughest of men could endure. The teaching was often disorganized and didn’t follow a logical set of concepts and principles. Enter Kano  On October 28, 1860 Jigaro Kano was born in the seaside town of Kikage. He was to be a great influence upon Japanese martial arts and change them forever. As Japan was coming into modern times and adapting to European influences and industrialization, Kano yearned for the ancient ways as eagerly as he was absorbing these new influences. At his mid-teenage years he was reaching his full growth at 5’2″ and literally a 90 pound weakling. Being so small and frail, he was a perfect target for the bullies that are so common at that age. So, he resolved to turn to jiu jitsu as the art had earned quite a reputation for making young men tough. However, his father forbade him to begin studying jiu jitsu; he viewed it as a thing of the past and of no use. He also thought that jiu jitsu was uncivilized and uncultured and that he would better spend his time learning the arts and other more important subjects.So, of course, Jigaro Kano began looking for a teacher. He eventually found one and began studying. In fact, he continued studying until he had studied from many teachers and many ryu of jiu jitsu. His studies had included: Seigo Ryu, Yagyu Ryu, Kito Ryu and Tenshin Shinyo Ryu, which was a fusion of Yoshin Ryu and Shin No Shindo Ryu jiu jitsu. By the age of 21, Kano had become a master of Tenshin Shinyo Ryu jiu jitsu. Kano studied so fervently that he would even wake up screaming jiu-jitsu words!During his studies, Kano met Tsunetoshi Ikubo, a master of Kito Ryu Jiu-jitsu. Years earlier, Kuninori Suzuki, a master of Kito-ryu, had changed the name of Kito-kumiuchi to Kito-ryu Judo in 1714. Over time, “Kito-ryu Judo” had slipped into common usage as Kito-ryu ju jitsu, but later the name Kodokan Judo would come from this source.
During this time, Kano was finding ways to change, modify and invent within his Jiu-jitsu training. He had invented new throws and had discovered the underlying concept of what he coined as “kazushi”, or off-balancing, as a way of throwing an opponent rather than just leverage. One day, he even threw his master, Ikubo, 3 times. “From now on, you teach me”, Ikubo was reported as saying. It was here that Judo was born. Kano’s Revolution When the monks at Eishoji had become tired of the damage that was being done to the temple from the Judo training, Kano built a temporary location next to the temple until moving the group to his own home in 1883. In 1884, Kodokan bylaws were drawn up. The Kodokan name was officially established, “taking together all the merits I have acquired from the various schools of jujitsu, and adding my own devices and inventions, I have founded a new system for physical culture, mental training, and winning contests. This I call Kodokan Judo.” It is interesting to note that Kano had sought to preserve many of the ancient samurai ideals of the Japanese martial arts, but he wanted to weed out the ideals that were not fit for the modern age. One of these was the idea of “sudden death”, or Shobu. “Sudden death” was the losing of a contest with one “fatal” blow. These contests promoted too much of a cautious attitude and did not promote the idea of risk taking that would allow creativeness, strategy and tactics to flourish. His contests were based on a 3 point system instead of an “ippon”, or one point/sudden death. Unfortunately, during the 1930′s, Japanese militarism had attempted to revive the Samurai idealism of sudden death for nationalistic purposes; the idea of complete sacrifice of the individual for the good of the nation. The military imposed upon the Kodokan the one point win system. As Kano had feared, this created a fear of risk taking for fear of losing and still exists today. However, this created a stronger growth of “randori”(free-sparring) in practice. The “randori” or free-sparring attitude of Judo was also a unique idea of the time. Kano had witnessed that many of the styles of the time had become a very pale comparison to their former combative selves. During the decline of the Tokugawa Shogunate period and the modernization of Japan, competition was looked at as too violent, primitive and even vulgar. The practitioners of the arts of that time viewed their arts as too “deadly” to be fully practiced on a partner or opponent. This attitude was handed down from kenjitsu, the sword fighting arts. Since they could not practice on each other, the perfection of movement was considered to be a test of skill. The kenjitsu masters were the most admired in the Japanese arts, so this attitude was also adopted by the other arts as well as the Jujitsu ryu of the time. This fallacy was also a way to avoid all of the agony, sweat and the overall ordeal of arduous martial art training. This promoted the growth of “kata”, literally forms, as the main core of training. Instead of a natural, free competitive attitude of practice, pre-set and idealized movements were taught that were supposed to translate into actual fighting ability. The idea of “Budo” and the image of “Budo” had become a poor substitute of actually experiencing “Budo”, the “warrior’s way”. Judo Makes it’s Mark In 1886, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police hosted a historic tournament between the Kodokan Judo and Totsuka-ha Yoshin-ryu Jiu-jitsu, the school considered to be the strongest fighting school in Japan at the time. Although other masters were included, the Totsuka-ha was the school to beat as they were greatly known for thoroughly beating the other styles. The Kodokan lost two matches, drew one and won the remaining twelve matches! This small little group of the existing Jiu-jitsu ryu at the time had beaten the recognized masters in Japan. Martial arts were changed forever. Judo Makes Changes A ranking system had also started to come into use. Previously, Jiu-jitsu either had no rank or just had varying degrees of teaching certification such as “beginning teacher” and “advanced teacher”. Kano saw this as being very disorganized and left little incentive for a student to continue training without goals to achieve. Non-black belt grades then were purely representative of technical levels to achieve until sufficient material had been mastered to be considered a true student of Judo. This was the first Dan level, or black belt. The black belt, then, was considered to be a grade of beginning, not a finish as most people view it. When you have achieved the black belt, now you are ready to truly learn the art. Everything else until now has just been to get you ready so that you can now learn. In the beginning, the lower level belts consisted of 3 white belts, 3 brown belts and 3 black belts. Eventually it came to include colors as well as 10 grades of black. Note that this is the beginning of all belt systems in the martial arts. All was not always great with Judo, however, as in 1900 the Kodokan suffered a school defeat from the Fusen Ryu Jiu-jitsu. Fusen Ryu had specialized in grappling techniques, or ne-waza, and this was the nature of the tournament. The grappling had out shined the throwing of the Kodokan. Kano saw their weakness and typically asked the headmaster of the Fusen Ryu to share with him their core syllabus. He also sought out a similar style, Jikishin Ryu Jiu-jitsu, to add to the Kodokan syllabus. From this moment on, the Kodokan began to incorporate more ne-waza into the training. Jigaro Kano Later, Takeuchi Ryu masters helped with the development of the Kodokan syllabus. Takeuchi Ryu itself was a derivative of Daito Ryu Jiu-jitsu. As Daito Ryu itself evolved into subsequent arts, Kano sent students such as Mochizuki to Sokaku Takeda and Kenji Tomiki to Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido, to bring back developments that they had made. The Kodokan had become THE source of martial art knowledge in Japan. Kodokan Judo Readdresses Grappling Judo Takes on the World In 1904, Tsunejiro Tomita and Mitsuyo Maeda followed Yamashita to America. Tomita taught at Columbia University, while Maeda traveled to Europe, and Central and South America. Other instructors went to different countries all over the globe spreading their love of Judo. Mitsuyo Maeda
Tomita and Maeda parted ways with Tomita going to the West Coast and Maeda staying in New York to teach. He accepted a few challenge matches and taught at Princeton as well as in New York City, but Americans did not take well to Japanese style teaching and did not stay long. Maeda was offered to take a challenge fight for money by the local Japanese, which was against the Kodokan rules, but he needed money. His match was against a New York wrestler, which he won, and his fighting career began. Maeda persuaded some Japanese business men to back him with $1000 in prize money and he began his travels fighting and proving the superiority of Judo in North, Central and South America as well as in Europe. At 5’5″ and 154 pounds, he fought all takers even if they were much larger than he was. Out of over 2000 matches he was undefeated in Judo/Jiu-jitsu type matches and only lost 2 matches in the catch-as-catch-can world championships held in London. He entered both the middleweight and heavyweight divisions advancing to the semi-finals and finals respectively. In 1908, while in Spain he adopted the name Conde Koma, or Count Trouble. Because of his financial trouble he was in and his other surrounding problems, he first took the Japanese verb “komaru”, or trouble, as his name. However, he didn’t think that Maeda Komaru had a good ring to it, so he dropped the last syllable. A Spanish friend of his suggested that he use the name Conde, or Count, so Maeda adopted this name and later it became part of his legal name.
Enter the Gracie Family Carlos opened his own school in 1925 under the name of the Gracie Jiu-jitsu Academy. The name of Judo had been changed back to Jiu-jitsu to reflect its combat attitude. The Gracie’s Jiu-jitsu was not focused on points, it was focused on simply making the opponent give up with a submission technique or to carry the technique to its completion, much as the older style of Judo once was and still existed in the Kosen style. The new name was to separate it from its sport counterpart of Judo. This was not about sport, this was about fighting. Carlos had four younger brothers: Oswaldo, Gastao Jr., Jorge and Helio. Helio was often on the sidelines watching his brothers practice because of his poor physical condition, but he was learning much as he watched. One day, a student showed up for his private lesson with Carlos, but Carlos was late. Helio decided that he would teach the lesson since he had watched his brothers for years and was sure that he could teach as well as he needed to. In fact, as the lesson ended and Carlos burst in apologizing for his being late, the student said, “That’s alright, your brother gave me a good lesson, and if you don’t mind, I’d like him to teach me from now on.” This began Helio’s career in Jiu-jitsu
Eventually, Helio sent a challenge to the current Judo Champion and one of the greatest Judoka of all time, Masahiko Kimura, in 1952. Kimura accepted the challenge, but took two assistants with him. If Helio could not defeat his assistants then he would not even bother with him. Helio’s first match was with Kado, a 5th degree black belt. Helio choked Kado into submission from the guard 6 minutes into the fight. Kimura accepted the match.
Kimura would later comment on Helio’s fighting spirit, and the armlock that broke Helio’s arm is still called the Kimura by BJJ stylists to this day. Kimura also later noted that Helio’s Jiu-jitsu reminded him of the old pre-WWII style Judo, which is obvious considering they were taught by Maeda himself.
With Helio’s loss to Santana, Carlson Gracie, the son of Carlos, would enter the ring at the age of 17 to avenge the family name. He defeated Santana and earned the title of “king”. They would fight again for a total of 6 times with Carlson winning four and drawing for two. Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Goes to America Rorian had made a trip to America in the late 1970′s and started teaching in the early 1980′s. He was surprised to find that Americans virtually had no idea of how to fight on the ground. It was something that most schools didn’t even attempt to address. To further his point, he offered $10,000.00 to anyone that could beat their style in a no-rules competition. In 1993, Rorian’s brother, Royce, took Gracie Jiu-jitsu to the world by entering the first Ultimate Fighting Championship and easily winning the entire event against fighters that were two and three times his size. He did it again in UFC 2 and UFC 4. This opened the door for many Brazilians to come to America to fight against fighters from all over the world. Gracie Jiu-Jitsu suddenly gained a huge surge in popularity. As people realized that this was one of the most effective styles to come along in years they scrambled to learn as much as they could. Today, there are now many American, Brazilian, Japanese and European fighters that boast records and reputations that even exceed the original Gracie’s. Overall, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has now taken its place world-wide as one of the most effective martial arts that can be practiced.
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In 1904, at the age of 26 and as a 4th degree black belt, he was given the chance to go to the U.S. with one of his instructors, Tsunejiro Tomita. He and his instructor were invited to demonstrate at West Point. They started with kata, which the Americans did not understand or take well to. Maeda was challenged by a student that was a wrestling champion. The student thought that he had won because he pinned Maeda, but Maeda, unfamiliar with western wrestling continued to fight until he got his opponent in a joint lock and made him tap out. The students then wanted to see Tomita fight. Since he was the teacher, they figured that he must be the better fighter. Tomita had only come to demonstrate; not except challenge matches, but to save face he had no choice. Tomita, however, was in his 40′s and past his prime, so when the much larger American rushed him and tackled him, he was easily able to pin him under his weight so that Tomita could not move. He was forced to give up.
Maeda submits an opponent In 1915, Maeda ended up settling in a town called Belem, in Brazil. He felt that Brazil was the idea place for the Japanese to immigrate to. America, at the time, had strong anti-Japanese sentiments and Brazil was very open minded. The Amazon was also more promising with its lush vegetation. While there, he still continued his challenge fighting and would travel abroad again when needed, but Brazil became his home. Maeda still taught as part of his profession. His fame as a fighter brought to him policemen, army college cadets, and politicians as well as ordinary citizens. One politician, named Gastao Gracie, asked him to teach his son Carlos Gracie.
Helio Gracie vs. Kado Just as Maeda challenged other schools and fighters, so too the Gracie brothers began challenging anyone and everyone. Boxers, wrestlers and champions of all styles were fought and beaten by Gracie Jiu-jitsu. Helio first stepped in the ring at the age of 17 and soon became the strongest fighter in the Gracie Family.
Weeks later, the match was scheduled in front of 20,000 spectators and it was given the largest possible media coverage. The Gracie’s brought in a coffin for Kimura as a symbol as to how they thought the fight would end. During the fight, Kimura threw Helio many times with very powerful throws. The Gracie’s, however, had brought in very thick mats for the fight so that Helio would not sustain too much damage from the throws. In pictures, you can see their bodies sinking into the mat as they grapple. After 12 minutes of punishing throws and submission techniques, Kimura caught Helio in an armlock and had to break his arm in order to get Helio’s corner to throw in the towel. Helio would still not tap, even with a broken arm.
Santana in Helio Gracie’s Guard In 1957, Helio would suffer his second major loss against a former student named Valdemar Santana. They had what is believed to be the longest match in Jiu-jitsu history with 3 hours and 45 minutes of punching, kicking, elbowing, knees and headbutts along with vigorous grappling looking for submissions of all types. It was not until regaining their feet that Santana was able to connect with a kick to Helio’s head as he was standing. Helio went down and the match was finally over. Helio was 45 years old at the time; this would be his last fight.
