Short History of Gracie Jiu Jitsu
Jiu-Jitsu like many martial arts was created by perfecting and tweaking original techniques to create a whole new fighting style. The origins of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu are varied depending on who is asked but the general accepted idea is that it came from the Japanese self-defense art of Judo. Judo among other ground fighting techniques can be traced back to the early Roman Olympic games where wrestling, a form a grappling, was a sport in the games. Judo was dominate in Japan's martial arts world and was considered the countries fighting style because of its uses in the military and police forces; in other parts of the world this fighting style was known as Japanese Jiu Jitsu hence Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Japanese Jiu Jitsu was introduced to the Gracie family in Brazil when a man with the last name of Maeda settled in Brazil after fighting around the world against hundreds of fighters from different backgrounds. Maeda moved to Brazil and met a business man by the name of Gastao Gracie who in return of helping Maeda was trained in the art of Jiu Jitsu. Gastao showed his knowledge to his sons who then passed it down the generations. There was one son Helio, the youngest of the five, that transformed the Japanese style into the Gracie Jiu Jitsu style that we know today. As a young boy Helio was very small and weak, but after watching his older brother Carlos teach Jiu Jitsu classes for years he finally had to chance to show that small people can fight against big people. This chance came when Carlos was late for a class session and Helio volunteered to teach the class, when Carlos came back the class told him that they wanted Helio to teach. From then on Helio has been teaching and perfecting the martial art of Jiu Jitsu into what we know today up until his death in January of 2009. The sport has evolved since then gaining popularity in MMA and in the UFC. Some even have said that the Gracie family was the sole purpose for MMA's spike in its fan base in the late 1980s and 1990s. Jiu Jitsu also evolved in itself, when MMA became popular many fighters came to Jiu Jitsu gyms looking for training. When they found out most gyms were gi only the Gracies said no problem and began teaching Jiu Jitsu without the gi. This evolution of Jiu Jitsu into what we know today has not only changed in itself but has changed the fighting/self defense world around it.
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