Origins: Jiu Jitsu

"The gentle art", that's right jiu jitsu translates into "the gentle art". How you get off calling something where you choke, break the bones/joints or submit your opponent gentle i'll never know. Either way I love jiu jitsu. Though now it is more well known for it's roots in Brazil due to the success of MMA which was invented and dominated by the Gracie family. Royce Gracie submitted opponent after opponent in the UFC while growing interest in jiu jitsu with each submission. Because of Royce's success people associate jiu jitsu with Brazil however Jiu Jitsu was originally invented and developed in Japan in the 1500's.

Used by Samurai's to combat armored enemies, enemies with no weapon or short range weapons. It was a mixture of different martial arts used for close combat situations. Jiu jitsu at it's beginnings was similar to Judo as it used more throws than the conventional jiu jitsu we see now. During peace time, jiu jitsu schools often challenged and competed with each other as they do now in tournaments like Grappler's quest and Naga. In 1914 Mitsuyo Maeda brought Jiu jitsu to Brazil and taught it to Carlos Gracie. It was then passed on to his brothers Oswaldo, Gastão Jr., George, and Hélio.

Helio then took it and ran with it. He altered the art to fit his body style as some of the techniques were difficult for him due to his small size. In 1951, Masahiko Kimura, a Judokan, after being invited to Brazil by Helio Gracie, defeated Helio in 13mins using a reverse ude-garami known now simply as a "Kimura lock". Helio named it such after the bout.

Grand Master Helio trancended the art and has some of the most storied victories and defeats in history. Helio fought and defeated judokans and professional wrestlers from around the world. Often times he was outweighed and outsized. He once lost a fight to exhaustion after competing with former student Valdemar Santana for almost 4 hours. The Gracie family is now synonymous with Jiu jitsu, producing champion after champion. Although it is romanticized now as being a Brazilian art, the beginnings of Jiu jitsu are strongly anchored in Japan's feudal age.