Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art and combat sport that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting . It is a derivative of early 20th century Kodokan Judo , [ 2 ] [ 1 ] which was itself then a recently-developed system (founded in 1882), based on multiple schools (or Ryu ) of Japanese jujutsu .
Like judo, it promotes the principle that smaller, weaker person can successfully defend themselves against a bigger, stronger assailant using leverage and proper technique; applying joint-locks and chokeholds to defeat them. BJJ can be trained for self defense, sport grappling tournaments ( gi and no-gi) and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition. [ 3 ] Sparring (commonly referred to as 'rolling') and live drilling play a major role in training, and a premium is placed on performance, especially in competition.
[ edit ] Origin
The art began with Mitsuyo Maeda (aka Conde Koma, or Count Coma in English), an expert Japanese judoka and member of the Kodokan . Maeda was one of five of the Kodokan's top groundwork experts that Judo's founder Kano Jigoro sent overseas to spread his art to the world. Maeda left Japan in 1904 and visited a number of countries [ 2 ] giving "jiu-do" demonstrations and accepting challenges from wrestlers , boxers , savate fighters and various other martial artists before eventually arriving in Brazil on November 14 , 1914 . [ 4 ]
Since its inception, judo was separated from jujutsu in its goals, philosophy, and training regime. Although there was great rivalry among jujutsu teachers, this was more than just Kano's ambition to clearly individualize his art. To Kano, judo wasn't solely a martial art: it was also a sport, a method for promoting physical fitness and building character in young people, and, ultimately, a way ( Do ) of life. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] To a very large extent, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has also encompassed these philosophies.
It is often claimed that BJJ 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, and after the interest generated by stories about the success of judo at contests between judo and jujutsu that were occurring at the time, he changed from sumo to judo, becoming a student of Kano's Kodokan judo. [ 2 ] He was promoted to 7th dan in Kodokan judo the day before he died in 1941.
Many people believe that Gracie holds a Judo rank of 6th dan including Masahiko Kimura [3] . However the Kodokan has no record that Hélio Gracie has held any dan grade in Judo. [4]
