History

As a boy, Mitsuyo Maeda, born in 1878, studied ten-shin shinyo-ryu, one of the traditional Jiu-Jitsu styles found in Japan. At 18 years old, he began Judo in Tokyo at the Kodokan in 1897. The dedicated Maeda soon became one of the more talented prospects trained by Jigoro Kano.

In 1904 Sensi Kano sent one of his top students, Tsunejior Tomita, to the USA to give a Judo demonstration to President Theodore Roosevelt, where Mitsuyo Maeda assisted.

After the demonstration, Maeda fought a powerful wrestler and was pinned for a while, but eventually Maeda reversed the position and forced the wrestler to submit. Impressed by Maeda's skill, the Americans asked Kano to fight and Kano accepted the challenge. Failing to complete a throw, Kano was pinned and eventually gave up to his larger-bodied opponent.

Ashamed, Maeda parted ways with Kano, stayed on the east coast and taught Judo at Princeton University, while accepting challenges from anyone who came forward, even persuading Japanese businessmen to stake him $1000 in prize money. This directly opposed the ethics and precepts of Kodokan Judo. Having little success as a teacher, Maeda chose the path as a professional fighter.

Maeda traveled to many other countries, where he ultimately received the nickname "Conde Koma" or Count Koma, which became his ring name. "Conde Koma" can loosely be translated as "Count Trouble" or "Count Combat." In 1915 he began touring Brazil and other South American countries, returning in 1917 to Belem, Brazil. Maeda accepted all challenges, as he did in the USA, and made him quite famous in the region. As a teacher, his popularity grew, teaching Army Cadets, police and private students. Among all his students, it was the son Gastão Gracie, Carlos, who eventually became his most notable protégé.

His constant fights against opponents from other styles forced him to alter and modify many of his techniques from Judo and discard the sport-oriented movements that lacked usefulness in real fights. Judo's technical structure was meant to match opponents who used the same techniques, yet he was often fighting experienced boxers and wrestlers. Maeda analyzed the old system of pre-war Judo and used many of its strategies and techniques to face his opponents.

The old school of Judo was closer to the traditional samurai combat Jiu-Jitsu of Bu-Jutsu. He soon discovered his opponents were vulnerable to the lethal samurai Jiu-Jitsu ground techniques discarded by the Kodakan when Kano converted the original, violent art into a "gentle" sport, practiced during a period of peace. When Masahiko Kimura encountered Helio Grace, he remarked his techniques reminded him of pre-war Jiu-Jitsu.

The Gracie family was introduced to Judo at a time when the Kodokan had recently suffered a great defeat to the grappling style of the Fusen Ryu. This can be compared to the Ultimate Fighting Championship of the early 1990's, when most martial artists were attempting to fight Royce Gracie standing. They would all eventually find themselves on the ground, where they were at a loss as to what to do.

Maeda taught Gastao's son Carlos the basic techniques of Jiu-Jitsu. Carlos Gracie then taught his brothers Oswaldo, Jorge, Gastao, and Helio. In 1925 the brothers opened their first school, and Jiu-Jitsu was cultivated into a more effective martial art and sport known as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. What made this version of Jiu-Jitsu more effective was the constant exposure of its practitioners to real situations. Between their own schools, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu players would compete in a sportive way to keep the techniques of their art sharp. The Gracie family would issue a challenge to all others to fight without rules. In these no rules or 'vale tudo' fights, the Gracie family and their students would evaluate the techniques of their fighting art.

The formal teaching of Jiu-Jitsu to Brazilians by the Gracie family began in 1940 when Helio opened an academy in Rio. The Gracie family developed the art of Judo into a more effective rules-free style. Helio edited the techniques which involved too much strength due to the fact that he was much smaller and weaker than other practitioners. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was introduced to the USA in the 1970's, but was not made popular until 1993, when Royce Gracie defeated opponents from other martial arts in a contest called the Ultimate Fighting Championship. This type of fighting was known in Brazil as Vale Tudo (anything goes) and would later become known as NHB (No Holds Barred) in the USA. The effectiveness of the art form over so many others made Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu known to the martial arts community and the world. This was America's first look at Mixed Martial Arts fighting. Unlike many other martial arts, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gained its reputation and popularity through effective fighting, not Hollywood movies.