There are several hypotheses regarding the origins of jiu-jitsu, the so-called "gentle" martial art of grappling and leverage. Some historians credit the influence of ancient Greece for jiu-jitsu's beginnings while others believe it was developed by Buddhist monks in India. What is known for certain is that jiu-jitsu evolved into an official discipline during Japan's Feudal period, and that the origins of Brazilian jiu-jitsu are traceable to Japanese martial arts prodigy Mitsuyo Maeda, who taught the tenets of jiu-jitsu to Brazil's Gracie family in the first decade of the 20th century.
Early Predecessors
The exact where and when of jiu-jitsu's origins both remain unknown, although there are several different theories which attempt to explain the source. According to the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy, a sport called pankration popular in Ancient Greece may have been jiu-jitsu's earliest influence. Some historians believe pankration spread from Greece to India during the 300s B.C. with the conquests of Alexander the Great. According to this theory, Buddhist monks adopted the sport from the Greeks and brought it to China and later to Japan along with the spread of Buddhism. An alternative theory is that the guiding principles and techniques behind jiu-jitsu were developed by Buddhist monks in India, without Greek influence. Finally, some propose that jiu-jitsu originated from China during the fall of the Ming Dynasty.
Feudal Japan
Regardless of whether jiu-jitsu's earliest predecessor came from Greece, India, China, or elsewhere, historians agree that it was during Feudal Japan that jiu-jitsu was refined into a sophisticated grappling system that resembles its present-day form. During the 8th to 16th centuries, Japan was rife with civil war and jiu-jitsu techniques were used and perfected on the battlefield. Jiu-jitsu was also known during this time by several different names, including yawara, hakuda, kogusoko. The earliest recorded use of the word, "jiu-jitsu" occured in 1532 with the establishment, by Hisamori Tenenuchi, of the first official jiu-jitsu school in Japan.
The Birth of Judo
Following the abolition of Japan's feudal system, jiu-jitsu was no longer needed for warfare purposes. However, practitioners of the sport continued to teach the classical self-defense techniques of jiu-jitsu to keep the ancient traditions alive. In the late 1800s, a practitioner named Jigoro Kano created his own version of jiu-jitsu called judo. While not as effective in combat as the traditional jiu-jitsu practiced on the battlefield, judo was a form of jiu-jitsu that could be practiced safely in a sportive environment without injuring your opponent. Judo was eventually named the national sport of Japan and remains popular to this day.
Origins of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
In 1914, undefeated judo champion and direct student of Kano's, Mitsuyo Maeda, brought the arts of judo and jiu-jitsu to Brazil where he opened his own school. Here he befriended influential businessman Gastão Gracie who helped Maeda get established. To thank Gracie for his help, Maeda offered lessons in traditional Japanese jiu-jitsu to Gastão's son, Carlos. Carlos Gracie studied under Maeda for several years, passing along the techniques to his brothers. Carlos Gracie opened his own jiu-jitsu academy in Rio De Janeiro in 1925, where the Gracie brothers, most notably Carlos and his younger brother Helio, developed and refined their own distinctive style characterized by its emphasis of leverage over strength and its realistic applications for real-world confrontations. Today, this sport is known as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or BJJ. Since Royce Gracie won a string of victories in the Ultimate Fighting Championship during the 1990s, BJJ has grown in popularity in the United States and around the world, both as a sport and as means of self-defense.
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