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WHAT IS BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU?
The story of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu begins back in the early 1900's. The Japanese government was eager to set up a Japanese colony in Brazil. To help lead this venture, they sent over a man named Esai Maeda, also known as "Count Koma".
Gastão Gracie, a Brazilian politician, befriended Maeda and helped him and his new venture. As a show of gratitude, Maeda agreed to teach Gastão's eldest son Carlos the secrets of the Japanese martial art; Jiu Jitsu. Maeda happen to be a former champion back in Japan, and proved to be a very effective teacher as well.
Carlos, a skinny little teenager, trained under the watchful eyes of Maeda for the next few years. As fate would have it though, in 1923 Maeda returned back to his homelands and left Carlos all alone with no master. |
Carlos Gracie and his master "Count koma" |
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Helio Gracie, training with older brother Carlos |
THE CREATION PROCESS
Carlos, needing someone to train with, had taught his younger brother Helio the art. Together, these resilient brothers morphed Jiu Jitsu more and more each day into something that would eventually change the martial arts world forever. Neither Carlos or Helio were men of great size or strength. Especially Helio, a frail boy who often weighed around 140 pounds or so. Because of this, they based many of their modifications on position and leverage rather than size and strength. The concept behind their creations were that a smaller, weaker man could effectively win in a fight against a bigger, stronger man.
The mean streets of Brazil acted as very good testing grounds for these new modifications. Tested over and over again in challenge matches and professional Vale Tudo (No holds barred) fights, these new fighting techniques proved to be the most effective form of self defense around. |
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THE GRACIE FAMILY
Learning that 95% of any real street fight will end up on the ground, the Gracie brothers concentrated on developing the most effective grappling art form to date. The result of the past 70+ years of this development has become known as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Even though the roots of the art stem from the traditional Japanese form of Jiu Jitsu, the Gracie family's effective renditions have proven to the world that it is to be considered a form of it's own.
Carlos and Helio both had many children. These children were basically raised their whole life practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Today, you can find them continuing to prove the effectiveness of this art in many of the most popular events in the world. Just to name a few... Rickson Gracie holds an amazing undefeated record in over 400 Vale tudo fights to date. Royce Gracie not only won the first Ultimate fighting championships ever, but continued to go undefeated and won 2 more UFC's after after that! Royler Gracie, winner of some of the most prestigious grappling tournaments in the world, continues to be a top competitor everywhere.
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Royce victorious at the UFC. Rickson doing what he does best - winning! |
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Owner Amal Easton is presented an award from Grandmaster Helio Gracie |
CONTINUING TRADITION
Grandmaster Helio Gracie, who is in his early 90's, can still be found on the mats rollin' with the best of them! A great tribute to just some of the healthy benefits of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Be sure to check out our Instructors section to read about this schools owner and head instructor Amal Easton and his close relationships directly with the Gracie family. We here here at Easton Brazilian Jiu Jitsu teach techniques handed directly down from the Gracies themselves!
You can learn even more about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and the extraordinary Gracie family in the awesome book; The Gracie way (Written by: Kid Peligro, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and Gracie family friend). Also, be sure to visit our links page to find tons of great Brazilian Jiu Jitsu web sites!
If you have any other questions, or would like to sign up for a FREE LESSON, please do not hesitate to contact us here at Easton Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. We look forward to seeing you soon.
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© copyright Easton Brazilian Jiu Jitsu 2003 |
Web site design by Cory Close |
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