Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a
martial art and
combat
sport that focuses on
grappling and
ground fighting.
It was derived from
the Japanese martial art of
Kodokan Judo in the
early 20th century, which was itself then a recently-developed
system (founded in 1882), based on multiple schools (or Ryu) of Japanese
jujutsu.
It promotes the principle that a smaller, weaker person can
successfully defend themselves against a bigger, stronger assailant
using leverage and proper technique; most notably, by applying
joint-locks and
chokeholds to defeat them. BJJ can be trained for
sport grappling tournaments (
gi and no-gi) and
mixed martial arts (MMA) competition.
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.
History
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 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.
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.
It is often claimed that BJJ is a development of traditional
Japanese
jujutsu, not judo, 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. He was promoted to 7th dan in Kodokan judo the day before he
died in 1941.
Many people (including
Masahiko
Kimura) believe that Hélio Gracie holds a
judo rank of 6th dan. There is, however, no
Kodokan record of Gracie's dan grade in judo.
Name
When Maeda left Japan,
Judo was still often
referred to as "Kano Jiu-Jitsu",As evidenced by the title of the
book See details, including the original book cover
here. or, even more generically, simply as
"Jiu-Jitsu."As evidenced by the title of the book See details,
including the original book cover
here.As also
evidenced by the title of the book
Kigashi, the co-author of "Kano Jiu-Jitsu" wrote in the foreword
"Some confusion has arisen over the employment of the term
'jiudo'. To make the matter clear I will state that jiudo
is the term selected by Professor Kano as describing his system
more accurately than jiu-jitsu does. Professor Kano is one
of the leading educators of Japan, and it is natural that he should
cast about for the technical word that would most accurately
describe his system. But the Japanese people generally
still cling to the more popular nomenclature and call it
jiu-jitsu."
Outside Japan, however, this distinction was noted even less. The
distinction between a
jutsu and a
do is subtle,
and is still
used
somewhat arbitrarily to this day. Thus, when Maeda and Satake
arrived in Brazil in 1914, every newspaper announced "jiu-jitsu"
despite both men being Kodokan Judoka.
The Japanese government itself did not officially mandate until
1925 that the correct name for the martial art taught in the
Japanese public schools should be "judo" rather than "jujutsu". In
Brazil, the art is still called "Jiu-Jitsu". When the Gracies went
to the United States to spread their art, the system became known
as "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu" and "Gracie Jiu-Jitsu." "Jiu-jitsu" is an
older romanization that was the original spelling of the art in the
West, and it is still in common use, whereas the modern
Hepburn romanization is "jūjutsu."
Other common spellings are jujitsu and ju-jitsu.
The art is sometimes referred to as Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (GJJ), but
this name is trademarked by
Rorion
Gracie and specifically refers to the style taught by him and
his selected teachers. Other members of the Gracie family often
call their style by personalized names, such as Charles Gracie
Jiu-Jitsu or Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, and similarly, the
Machado brothers call their style Machado
Jiu-Jitsu (MJJ). While each style and its instructors have their
own unique aspects, they are all basic variations of Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu.
Today there are three major branches of BJJ
from Brazil: Gracie Humaita, Gracie Barra, and Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Each branch
can trace its roots back to
Mitsuyo
Maeda and the
Gracie family.
Development
Maeda met an influential
businessman
named
Gastão Gracie who helped
him get established. In 1916, his 14 year-old son
Carlos Gracie watched a demonstration by Maeda
at the
Teatro da Paz (Theatre of Peace) and decided to
learn the art. Maeda accepted Carlos as a student, and Carlos went
on to become a great exponent of the art and ultimately, with his
younger brother
Hélio Gracie
became the founder of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, modern Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu.
In 1921,
Gastão Gracie and his family moved to Rio de Janeiro
. Carlos, then 17 years old, passed Maeda's
teachings on to his brothers Osvaldo, Gastão and Jorge. Hélio was
too young and sick at that time to learn the art, and due to
medical imposition was prohibited to take part in the training
sessions. Despite that, Hélio learned from watching his brothers.
He eventually overcame his health problems and is now considered by
many as the founder of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (though others, such as
Carlson Gracie, have pointed to Carlos as the founder of the
art).
Hélio competed in several submission judo competitions which mostly
ended in a draw. One defeat (in Brazil in 1951) was by visiting
Japanese judoka
Masahiko Kimura,
whose surname the Gracies gave to the arm lock used to defeat
Hélio. The
Gracie family continued to
develop the system throughout the 20th century, often fighting
vale tudo matches (precursors to modern
MMA), during which it increased
its focus on ground fighting and refined its techniques.
Today, the main differences between the BJJ styles is between
traditional Gracie Jiu-Jitsu's emphasis on self-defense, and Sport
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu's orientation towards point competition. There
is a large commonality of techniques between the two. Also, there
is a wide variety of ideals in training in different schools in
terms of the utilization of technique versus how much to attempt to
overpower an opponent.
Prominence
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu came to international prominence in the martial
arts community in the 1990s, when Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert
Royce Gracie won the
first,
second and
fourth Ultimate Fighting
Championships, which at the time were
single elimination martial
arts tournaments. Royce fought against often much-larger opponents
who were practicing other styles, including
boxing,
shoot-fighting,
karate,
judo and
tae kwon do. It has since become a staple art
for many
MMA fighters and is
largely credited for bringing widespread attention to the
importance of
ground fighting. Sport
BJJ tournaments continue to grow in popularity worldwide and have
given rise to no-gi
submission
grappling tournaments, such as the
ADCC Submission
Wrestling World Championship.
Style of fighting
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu emphasizes taking an opponent to the ground and
utilizing
ground fighting techniques
and
submission holds
involving
joint-locks and
chokeholds also found in numerous other arts with
or without ground fighting emphasis. The premise is that most of
the advantage of a larger, stronger opponent comes from superior
reach and more powerful strikes, both of which are somewhat negated
when grappling on the ground.
BJJ permits a wide variety of techniques to take the fight to the
ground after taking a grip. Once the opponent is on the ground, a
number of maneuvers (and counter-maneuvers) are available to
manipulate the opponent into a suitable position for the
application of a submission technique. Achieving a dominant
position on the ground is one of the hallmarks of the BJJ style,
and includes effective use of the
guard position to defend oneself from
bottom, and passing the guard to dominate from top position with
side control,
mount, and
back
mount positions. This system of maneuvering and manipulation
can be likened to a form of kinetic chess when utilized by two
experienced practitioners. A submission hold is the equivalent of
checkmate in the sport. However, it is possible for a combat
situation to continue even after a proper submission is
performed.
Renzo Gracie wrote in his book
Mastering Jujitsu: "The
classical jujutsu of old Japan appeared to have no common strategy
to guide a combatant over the course of a fight. Indeed, this was
one of Kano's most fundamental and perceptive criticisms of the
classical program." Maeda not only taught the art of judo to
Carlos Gracie, but also taught a
particular philosophy about the nature of combat developed by Kano,
and further refined by Maeda based on his worldwide travels
competing against fighters skilled in a wide variety of martial
arts.
The book details Maeda's theory as arguing that physical combat
could be broken down into distinct phases, such as the striking
phase, the grappling phase, the ground phase, etc. Thus, it was a
smart fighter's task to keep the fight located in the phase of
combat that best suited to his own strengths. Renzo Gracie stated
that this was a fundamental influence on the Gracie approach to
combat, these strategies were further perfected over time by the
Gracies and others, and became prominent in contemporary MMA.
Submission
The majority of submission holds can be grouped into two broad
categories:
joint locks and
chokes. Joint locks typically involve isolating an
opponent's limb and creating a lever with the body position which
will force the joint to move past its normal range of motion.
Pressure is increased in a controlled manner and released if the
opponent cannot escape the hold and signals defeat by
submitting. Opponents can indicate
submission verbally or they can tap out (i.e. tap the opponent, the
mat several times. Tapping one's own body is dangerous because the
opponent may not be able to tell if his or her opponent is
tapping.) A choke hold, disrupting the blood supply to the
brain, can cause unconsciousness if the opponent does
not submit soon enough.
A less common type of submission hold is a
compression lock, where the muscle of an
opponent is compressed against a hard, large bone (commonly the
shin or wrist), causing significant pain to the opponent. These
types of locks are not usually allowed in competition due to the
high risk of tearing muscle tissue. This type of lock often also
hyper-extends the joint in the opposite direction, pulling it
apart.
Joint locks
While many joint locks are permitted, most competitions ban or
restrict some or all joint locks involving the knees, ankles, and
spine. The reason for this is that the angles of manipulation
required to cause pain are nearly the same as those that would
cause serious injury. Joint locks that require a twisting motion of
the knee (called twisting knee locks or twisting knee bars, or
techniques such as heel hooks, and toe holds) are usually banned in
competitions because successfully completing the move nearly always
results in permanent damage that requires surgery. Similarly,
joint manipulations of the spine are
typically barred due to the inherent danger of crushing or
mis-aligning
cervical vertebrae.
Leglocks are allowed in varying degrees depending on skill level,
with straight ankle locks being the only leglocks allowed in the
beginner division, or white belt level, straight kneebars being
allowed in the intermediate division, or blue belt level and
toeholds with the pressure applied inwards are allowed in the
advanced division (purple, brown, black).
However, most joint locks involving the wrist, elbow, shoulder or
ankle are permitted as there is a great deal more flexibility in
those joints and those locks are safe to use under tournament
conditions. Also, some fighters practice moves whose sole purpose
is to inflict pain upon their opponent, in the hope that they will
tap out. This includes driving knuckles into
pressure points, holding their opponent's
head in order to tire out the neck (called the "can opener" or
kubi-hishigi) and putting body weight on top of the
sternum,
floating ribs,
or similarly sensitive bones. These moves are not true submission
moves - they are generally only used as distractions mostly in
lower levels of competition. They are avoided or aggressively
countered in middle to upper levels of competition.
Chokes and strangles
Chokes and strangles (commonly but
somewhat incorrectly referred to as "air chokes" and "blood chokes"
respectively) are a common form of submission. Chokes involve
constriction of the
windpipe (causing
asphyxia.) Strangles involve constriction
of the
carotid artery (causing
ischemia.)
Air chokes are less efficient than strangles and may result in
damage to the opponent's
trachea,
sometimes even resulting in death. By contrast, blood chokes
(strangulations) cut the flow of blood to the opponent's brain,
causing a rapid loss of consciousness without damaging any internal
structures. Being "choked-out" in this way is relatively safe as
long as the choke is released soon enough after unconsciousness,
letting blood back into the brain before
oxygen deprivation damage begins.However,
it should not be practiced unsupervised.
The prevalence of the more dangerous "air" chokes has led to the
banning of choke holds by some United States police
departments.
Primary Ground Positions
During the ground phase of combat the BJJ practitioner strives to
take a dominant, controlling position from which to apply
submissions. An overview of the most common of these positions is
as follows:
Side Control:
The BJJ practitioner pins their opponent to the ground from the
side of their body. Their torso is ninety degrees relative to that
of their opponent with much of their weight applied to the
opponent's chest. The opponent may be further controlled by
pressure on either side of their shoulders and hips from the
practitioner's elbows and knees. This is a very strong position if
the practitioner is larger than their opponent. Side control is
well suited to applying a variety of joint locks to the arm or
transitioning the opponent into an arm bar.
Full Mount:
The BJJ practitioner takes the top position, sitting their weight
on the opponent's chest. In the strongest form of this position the
practitioner works their knees up under the shoulders of the
opponent. This significantly limits their ability to move or
counter the submission attempts of the BJJ practitioner. Another
strong position if the practitioner is larger, the Full Mount is
well suited to attacking both arms of the opponent as transitioning
them to a variety of choke-effective positions.
Rear Mount:
A useful position for smaller practitioners. The practitioner
attaches to the back of the opponent by wrapping their legs around
and hooking the opponent's thighs with their heels. Simultaneously,
the upper body is controlled by wrapping the arms around the chest
or neck of the opponent. A highly effective position to apply
chokeholds, it counters much of the
benefit an opponent may have from greater size or strength.
Guard:
A vital technique for smaller BJJ practitioners. In the Guard, the
practitioner is on their back controlling an opponent between their
legs. The practitioner pushes and pull with the thighs or feet to
upset the balance and limit the movements of their opponent. This
position comes into play often when a larger opponent tries to
dominate with their size or strength. It can be seen in many of the
Gracies' early UFC bouts. This is a very versatile position from
which the BJJ practitioner can apply a variety of joint-locks to
the arms as well as various chokes.
Training methods
Sport Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu's focus on submissions without the use of
strikes while training allows
practitioners to practice at full speed and with full power,
resembling the effort used in a real competition. Training methods
include technique drills in which techniques are practised against
a non-resisting partner; isolation sparring, commonly referred to
as positional drilling, where only a certain technique or sets of
techniques are used, and full sparring in which each opponent tries
to submit their opponent using any legal technique. Physical
conditioning is also an important part of training at many
clubs.
Grading
Age categories
| 4-6 |
pré-mirim |
| 7-9 |
mirim |
| 10-12 |
infantil |
| 13-15 |
infanto-juvenil |
| 16-17 |
juvenil |
| 18-29 |
adulto |
| 30-35 |
master |
| 36-40 |
sênior I |
| 41-45 |
sênior II |
| 46-50 |
sênior III |
| 51-55 |
sênior IV |
| 56+ |
sênior V |
Junior belt colors (15 and under)
| White |
 |
| Yellow |
 |
| Orange |
 |
| Green |
 |
Adult belt colors (16 and over)
| White |
|
| Blue |
 |
| Purple |
 |
| Brown |
 |
| Black |
 |
| Black/Red |
 |
| Red |
 |
The
Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu ranking system awards a practitioner different
colored belts to signify increasing levels of technical knowledge
and practical skill. While the system’s structure shares its
origins with the
Judo ranking
system and the origins of all colored belts, it now contains many
of its own unique aspects and themes. Some of these differences are
relatively minor, such as the division between youth and adult
belts and the stripe/degree system. Others are quite distinct and
have become synonymous with the art, such as a marked informality
in promotional criteria, including as a focus on a competitive
demonstration of skill, and a conservative approach to promotion in
general.
Comparison with Judo
Originally having been developed from Judo, and while still
recognizable as closely related and even as a style of Judo, there
are some differences from modern Olympic Judo. For example BJJ
encourages free
sparring without striking
(also known as "rolling"), against a live, resisting opponent very
similar to
Randori in
judo, however the rules related to this sparring have
key differences.
Divergence from Kodokan rules
Since judo was introduced to Brazil there have been changes in the
rules of sport judo—some to enhance it as
a spectator sport, and some for improved safety. Several of these
rule changes have greatly de-emphasised the groundwork aspects of
judo, and others have reduced the range of joint locks allowed and
when they can be applied. Many of the banned techniques are
preserved in the judo
kata, and are practised
to varying extents in different clubs. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu did not
follow many of these changes to judo rules, and this divergence has
given it a distinct identity as a martial art, while still being
recognizable as a
sub-style of judo.
Other factors that have contributed towards the stylistic
divergence of BJJ from sport judo include the Gracies' desire to
create a national martial art, the influence of Brazilian culture,
and the Gracies' emphasis on full-contact fighting.
BJJ permits all the techniques that judo allows to take the fight
to the ground, these include judo's scoring
throws as well as judo's non-scoring
techniques that it refers to as 'skillful takedowns' (such as the
flying armbar). BJJ also allows any
and all takedowns from wrestling, sambo, or any other grappling
art. BJJ also differs from judo in that it also allows a competitor
to drag his opponent to the ground, and also even to drop to the
ground himself provided he has first taken a grip. Early Kodokan
judo not only allowed all that BJJ now allows, it even allowed a
fighter to drop straight to the ground without first taking a
grip.
BJJ's different rules set and point scoring mechanisms are designed
to give BJJ an arguably more practical emphasis, by rewarding
positions of control from which the grappler could strike their
opponent (if it weren't for the sport's restrictions against
striking).
Ground fighting
BJJ is most strongly differentiated by its greater emphasis on
groundwork, in contrast with judo's greater emphasis on
throws, due to both its radically
different point-scoring system, and the absence of most of the judo
rules that cause the competitors to have to recommence in a
standing position. This has led to greater time dedicated to
training on the ground, resulting in enhancement of judo's
groundwork techniques by BJJ practitioners.
There are also many techniques that are allegedly created by BJJ,
though they already existed in Kodokan judo. This misconception is
often the result of incorrect assumptions by BJJ practitioners who
simply assume that the techniques they learned in BJJ classes
originated there. It is also due in some instances to BJJ
practitioners genuinely rediscovering techniques that they did not
know existed in judo, such as the
Gogoplata. However some new techniques have
certainly been developed by BJJ practitioners, such as the inverted
omoplata or "rubber guard" defensive hold.
Along with BJJ's great strengths on the ground comes its relative
weakness with standing techniques such as striking. Many Judo
practitioners also regard the art as having greatly lost the
ability to execute effective throws and takedowns, a cornerstone of
the original Judo. A similar, but contrary opinion is held by BJJ
practictioners of the ground technique in Judo, which is regarded
as having become extremely limited and of decreased effectivenes.
There is an increasing amount of cross-training between the sports
of BJJ and Judo, and striking based arts such as Muay Thai.
The Gi
The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner's uniform is similar to a
judogi, but often with tighter cuffs on the
pants and jacket. This allows the practitioner to benefit from a
closer fit, providing less material for an opponent to manipulate,
although there is a significant overlap in the standards that
allows for a carefully selected Gi to be legal for competition in
both styles. To be
promoted in Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu, the wearing of the Gi while training is a
requirement.
As is the
case with judo, the term kimono is sometimes used to
describe the outfit, especially in Brazil.
World Jiu-Jitsu Championship
One of the most prestigious and recognized Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
tournament in the world is the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship (known
as the
Mundials), hosted annually by the
International
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation.
It must be noted that when speaking of the world championship it
most often specifies championships held by
International
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation. There have been other
organizations like the CBJJE which also hosts World Class
Championships in Brazil.
See also
Other arts extensively utilizing leverage, chokes, and/or
joint-locks:
Footnotes
- Untangling a sport that transcends style Chad
Edward The Cincinnati Enquirer Oct. 30, 2007 12:05 PM
- For more on this, see Judo
and Kano
Jigoro.
- "My Judo" by Masahiko Kimura
- Motomura, Kiyoto. "Budō in the Physical Education Curriculum of
Japanese Schools." In Alexander Bennett, ed., Budo
Perspectives. Auckland: Kendo World, 2005, pp. 233-238.
- Ohlenkamp, Neil. Principles of Judo Choking Techniques.
judoinfo.com. URL last accessed October 23 2007.
- Koiwai, E.K. (MD). How Safe is Choking in Judo?.
judoinfo.com. URL last accessed October 23 2007.
- http://www.ibjjf.org/rules.htm
- IBJJF
rules(International
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation) - URL last accessed
April 3 2008
- Article 5.2.2.A of the IBJJF rules states "The athlete will
only be allowed to kneel after having taken hold of his opponents
kimono."
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