Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (Portuguese: jiu-jitsu brasileiro [ʒiw ˈʒitsu bɾaziˈlejɾu, ʒu -]), often abbreviated to BJJ, is a self-defense system, martial art, and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting, and submission holds.
Origins and Early Development
The roots of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu trace back to traditional Japanese jiu-jitsu and Judo. These foundational techniques were brought to Brazil by Japanese immigrants in the late 19th century.
Japanese Influence
In 1908, the Brazilian Navy ship Benjamin Constant rescued a group of castaways on a Pacific island, among them a Japanese jiu-jitsu instructor Sada Miyako. He and his disciple Kakiara were allowed to stay aboard and continue the journey to Brazil. Upon arriving in Rio de Janeiro aboard the Benjamin Constant, Miyako was hired by the Navy to train officers at Fortaleza de Villegagnon, later extending his teachings to Army personnel.
Mitsuyo Maeda, a distinguished judo black belt from the Kodokan, trained under Tomita Tsunejirō-the first student of judo's founder, Kano Jigoro-and embarked on a global mission to showcase and spread judo. Departing Japan in 1904, Maeda traveled to various countries, demonstrating his skills and taking on challengers like wrestlers, boxers, savate fighters, and other martial artists. In Brazil, Maeda's demonstrations of "Kano jiu-jitsu"-a term then synonymous with judo-laid the groundwork for what would become Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
The first public demonstration of jiu-jitsu in Brazil took place in 1906 in the city of Manaus, the capital of Amazonas. After settling in the city, the two men published a challenge in the local newspapers, inviting anyone willing to face them in public matches. An improvised arena was set up at the "Coliseu Metálico Brasileiro" circus in Praça da Saudade, where on November 18, Master Akishima and his disciple Suiotos fought over a dozen local challengers-defeating all of them in less than five minutes each, in front of a large crowd.
Read also: From Sitcom Star to BJJ Master
The Gracie Family's Role
Brazilian jiu-jitsu was first developed by the Brazilian brothers Carlos, Oswaldo, Gastão Jr., and Hélio Gracie around 1925, after Carlos was taught jujutsu and catch wrestling in 1917 by either Mitsuyo Maeda, a travelling Japanese judoka, or one of Maeda's students Jacyntho Ferro. Later, the Gracie family developed their own self-defense system that they named Gracie jiu-jitsu.
According to the Gracie family's account, Carlos became a direct student of Maeda at his school, which was overseen by Jacyntho Ferro. However, some Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner historians like Robert Drysdale challenge this narrative, proposing that Carlos was primarily instructed by Ferro rather than Maeda himself. Regardless, Carlos went on to share his knowledge with his brothers, including Hélio Gracie.
Due to his smaller build, Hélio struggled with executing many judo throws and with judo techniques that relied on overpowering opponents. Instead, he refined the art, emphasizing ground fighting and leverage-key aspects of jiu-jitsu and judo's ne-waza-over traditional throws. This evolution showcases the dynamic nature of martial arts.
The Gracie family has been a cornerstone in shaping Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Their influence went beyond just technique, leaving a lasting legacy that made BJJ a global martial art. Helio Gracie’s innovative approach adapted the art for all, regardless of size or skill. Helio Gracie’s work in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu focused on technique over brute strength. Despite his physical limitations, he developed strategies that allowed smaller fighters to overcome larger opponents.
In 1925, the Gracie brothers, led by Carlos, opened Brazil's first jiu jitsu academy, and 'Gracie jiu jitsu' was born.
Read also: The Art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
While the Gracie family is widely celebrated for popularizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu, another significant parallel lineage emerged through Luiz França and gained prominence through his student Oswaldo Fadda. Beyond the Gracie and França-Fadda lineages, Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Brazil has branched into several prominent schools, including Gracie Humaitá, Gracie Barra, Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, and Alliance Jiu Jitsu.
The Gracie family’s dedication to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu sparked a global movement. Through competitions, seminars, and academies worldwide, they spread BJJ’s benefits.
Key Concepts and Techniques
Brazilian jiu-jitsu is based on the concept that a smaller, weaker person can successfully defend against a bigger, stronger opponent by using leverage and weight distribution. The focus is on taking the fight to the ground and using a number of holds and submissions to defeat them.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu focuses on getting an opponent to the ground in order to neutralize possible strength or size advantages through ground fighting techniques and submission holds involving joint-locks and chokeholds.
BJJ (Brazilian jiu-jitsu) employs a wide range of takedown techniques to bring an opponent to the ground such as "pulling guard", which is not used in other combat sports such as judo or wrestling. Once the opponent is on the ground, a number of manoeuvres (and counter-manoeuvres) are available to manipulate the opponent into a suitable position for the application of a submission technique.
Read also: Jiu Jitsu Classes
Achieving a dominant position on the ground is one of the hallmarks of BJJ, which includes effective use of the guard position to defend oneself from bottom (using both submissions and sweeps, with sweeps leading to the possibility of dominant position or an opportunity to pass the guard), and passing the guard to dominate from top position with side control, mount, and back mount positions.
As BJJ focuses on submissions, sparring and live drilling ("rolling") become the most essential part of the training regime. This type of training allows practitioners to practice at full speed and with full strength, resembling the effort made in a competition.
Training methods include drills in which techniques are practiced against a non-resisting and resisting partners; isolation sparring (commonly referred to as positional drilling) where only a certain technique or sets of techniques are used; and full sparring where each practitioner tries to submit their opponent through technique.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu gyms typically follow a set of ground rules to instill trust, respect, and cleanliness amongst students. While some gyms adhere to less formalities than others, some still follow traditional customs.
Once on the ground, the BJJ practitioner strives to take a dominant or controlling position from where to apply submissions.
Dominant Positions
- Side Control: In side control (also known as side mount, cross-side and cem quilos - "a hundred kilograms" in Brazilian Portuguese), the practitioner pins their opponent to the ground from the side of their torso. The top grappler lies across the opponent, with weight applied to the opponent's chest. The opponent may be further controlled by pressure on either side of the shoulders and hips from the practitioner's elbows, shoulders, and knees. A wide variety of submissions can be initiated from side control. Additionally, the typical side control increases the opportunity for the top-side grappler to advance to other dominant positions. This position is often used in MMA as it allows the top fighter to strike whilst overcoming their opponents' defense.
- Knee-on-Belly: The knee-on-belly position (also known as knee ride) is a modified side pin that is distinctly separated from the side control position. The knee-on-belly position is characterized primarily by the control of the opponent with one leg out for base and balance and the other leg positioned across the opponent's torso, pinning them to the ground. This form of pin is a mobile pin rather than a static pin, and is considered a more dominant position in many grappling formats.
- Mount: In the mount (or full mount) position, the practitioner sits astride the opponent's front torso or chest, controlling the opponent with body-weight and hips. In this position, the person attacking from mount can isolate their opponent's arms (bringing them overhead), which creates a strong attacking position. Full Mount can be used to apply a variety of submissions, including armlocks or chokes.
- Back Mount: When taking the back mount position (often known in Brazilian jiu-jitsu as back control or attacking the back), the practitioner attaches to the back of the opponent by wrapping his legs around and hooking the opponent's thighs with their heel, or locking in a body triangle by crossing one shin across the waist like a belt then placing the back of the opposing knee over the instep as if finishing a triangle choke. Simultaneously, the upper body is controlled by wrapping the arms around the chest or neck of the opponent.
- North South: The North South position occurs when a practitioner is lying on top of their opponent, with their weight over their opponent's chest and head area, with their legs pointing away from their opponent. Control is established by controlling the opponent's head and/or arms. As with most top controlling positions in BJJ, the top practitioner applies pressure by bringing their hips downwards towards the ground, generating what is referred to as dead weight.
Guard Positions
- Guard: When in the "Guard" position, the practitioner is on their back controlling an opponent with his legs. The bottom practitioner pushes and pulls with the legs or feet to unbalance and limit the movements of his opponent.
- Closed Guard: In closed guard, the bottom grappler has his legs around the opponent's hips, with ankles closed together to control their opponent. The closed guard can be an effective position. This guard allows many setups for submissions such as joint locks and chokes, as well as sweeps.
- Open Guard: There are many variations of open guard with distinct names and positioning including the Butterfly Guard, De La Riva Guard, X-Guard, K-Guard, Rubber guard, Spider Guard, Octopus Guard, Lapel Guard, Worm Guard (made popular by Keenan Cornelius) and others. Butterfly guard is when the bottom grappler brings his legs up and feet together against the inner thighs of top opponent. The name is derived from the resulting butterfly wing shape. Butterfly guard increases both space to maneuver and the ability to counter the opponent with the shins or arches of the feet against the competitor's inner thighs.
- Half Guard: In the half guard, one of the top grappler's legs is controlled by the bottom grappler's legs, preventing the top opponent from passing side control or full mount positions. There is also a variant of half guard called "50/50 guard", which consist of each opponent usually in sitting positions with one of their legs hooking the same leg of their opponent in a mirrored fashion. Another variation of the half guard position is the "deep half guard", which involves the ...
Evolution and Rule Changes
Certain changes were made to the rules of judo after it was introduced to Brazil. Some of these rule changes sought to enhance it as a spectator sport, and to improve safety. Several of these rule changes de-emphasized the groundwork aspects of judo, and others have reduced the range of joint locks application.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu since its inception did not strictly follow kodokan judo rules, this divergence helped BJJ develop a distinct identity becoming a groundwork and submission focus fighting style.
Even though BJJ uses and allows many of the techniques found in judo and jujutsu, the evolution of these techniques in BJJ has followed a distinct path, giving primary emphasis to ground fighting positions and maneuvers, and having the guard as the central working point of the fight. This is reflected on how different fighting techniques are scored in competition.
In BJJ positions such as the rear mount receive a higher score, and the focus of the fight is to establish a dominant position against the adversary on the ground and submit them using chokeholds or joint locks.
BJJ also allows heelhooks and knee-reaping which are prohibited in judo, and any takedowns used in wrestling, sambo, or other grappling arts, including direct attempts to take down by touching the legs or dragging the opponent to the ground.
Spinal locks and cervical locks are not allowed in gi jiu-jitsu, amateur MMA, multiple forms of no-gi jiu-jitsu, Judo, and other martial arts, due to potential to cause serious bodily injury.
BJJ also has become more "sports-oriented" in recent years, prohibiting techniques such as slams.
Another divergence of BJJ from judo and jujutsu is that the first allows no-gi practice and competition, with its own subset of rules.
In contrast to some other martial arts BJJ can be practiced using a gi or without it, also called 'no-gi', for this purpose rash guards are used.
BJJ and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA)
In 1972, Carlos Gracie moved to the United States to teach jiu-jitsu, and in 1978 was followed by Rorion Gracie, who co-founded the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 1993.
Jiu-jitsu came to international prominence in martial arts circles 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 successfully against several larger opponents proficient in other fighting styles, including boxing, shootfighting, Muay Thai, karate, wrestling, and taekwondo.
BJJ has since become an elementary aspect of MMA, revealing the importance of ground fighting in a fight.
Today, no MMA athlete can compete at a high level without solid foundations in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This impact remains one of the most significant chapters in the history of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil.
Sport BJJ tournaments continue to grow in popularity and have given rise to no-gi submission grappling tournaments, such as the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship and NAGA, the North American Grappling Association.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has profoundly impacted modern martial arts, most noticeably in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Its focus on grappling and ground fighting makes BJJ techniques essential for MMA fighters.
The rise of MMA has spotlighted Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Fighters who train in BJJ often have a significant advantage. Their grappling skills are critical for defending against strikes and for a well-rounded fighting strategy. Many MMA champions have BJJ backgrounds, inspiring others to explore this discipline.
The evolution of BJJ techniques shows the importance of adapting skills. By learning from past successes and failures, we foster a culture of innovation.
The Terminology
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. Outside Japan, however, this distinction was noted even less. It was not until 1925 that the Japanese government itself officially mandated 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 and spread jiu-jitsu, they used the terms "Gracie jiu-jitsu" and non-Gracies using the term "Brazilian jiu-jitsu" to differentiate from the already present styles using similar-sounding names.
The art is sometimes referred to as Gracie jiu-jitsu (GJJ), a name trademarked by Rorion Gracie, but after a legal dispute with his cousin Carley Gracie, his trademark to the name was voided.
Other members of the Gracie family often call their style by personalized names, such as Ceaser Gracie Jiu-Jitsu or Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, and similarly, the Machado family call their style Machado Jiu-Jitsu (MJJ).
Relationship to Judo and Jujutsu
Brazilian jiu-jitsu shares many techniques with the original Kodokan judo, especially certain styles practiced before judo became part of the Olympics such as Kosen judo, and still practiced to a lesser extent, as well as with some earlier ryu jujtsu schools with their ground work emphasis that were historical predecessors like Okayama newaza (Takenouchi/Fusen ryu), Oguri ryu, and Tenshin-Shinyo ryu.
"The classical jujutsu of old Japan appeared to have no common strategy to guide a combatant over the course of a fight. 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 best suited to his own strengths. Renzo Gracie stated that this was a fundamental influence of the Gracie approach to combat.
Jiu-jitsu is often described as "human chess" since it is more than just a workout but also challenges the body and intellect.
Various theories surround its origins, but most agree that it may be traced back to Buddhist monks roughly 4,000 years ago in India. It later spread to medieval Japan, where it evolved into a highly effective type of hand-to-hand combat during hostilities before changing to become more of an art and sport.
Benefits of Training
Today Brazilian jiu jitsu is one of the world's fastest-growing and most popular combat sports. The number of people training is growing exponentially. It is recognised as not just being one of the most effective martial arts but also having immense benefits for physical and mental health.
Jiu-jitsu has numerous, well-researched physical and mental benefits. This art helps enhance strength and cardio and promotes weight loss and muscle tone. Jiu-jitsu also heightens body awareness, enhances balance, and sharpens your ability to react because you're continuously reacting to another person's motions.
In addition, Jiu-jitsu is also a fantastic cerebral exercise. This art also improves your ability to reason because you continuously decide what to do next, whether in a defensive or advantageous position.
Lastly, Jiu-Jitsu has been found to give most people a release for their daily concerns. The rich history behind BJJ and the fact that everyone can practice the art makes it unique compared to many other sports and physical activities.
FAQ
Who is considered the founder of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?
The Gracie family, Carlos and Helio, are credited with founding Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. They adapted techniques from Japanese jiu-jitsu and Judo. This created a unique martial art focused on leverage and technique.