Davis TaeKwonDo Academy

History of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu In 1914, Mitsuyo Maeda arrived in Brazil. He was a Japanese Judoka and prize fighter from the legendary Kodokan institute in Tokyo Japan (The world headquarters of Judo). Maeda had spent years touring the world to perform demonstrations and compete in No Holds Barred competitions to prove the effectiveness of his art and became known to the Brazilians as: “Conde Koma” which translates as “Count of Combat”. In 1917, Maeda had played an active role in aiding Japanese immigrants to settle in Brazil. It was during this time that he befriended Gastão Gracie. During a demonstration, Gastão’s 14 year old son Carlos had taken an interest in learning Judo from Maeda. Maeda not only taught the art of judo to Carlos Gracie, but also taught a particular philosophy about the nature of combat based on his travels competing and training alongside catch-wrestlers, boxers, savate fighters and various other martial artists. By the time that Carlos was 17, he began teaching the art s to his brothers Osvaldo, Gastão and Jorge. At this time Carlos’ younger brother Hélio was too young and had health issues and was therefore prohibited from practicing the art. Eventually Hélio overcame his obstacles and joined his brothers in not only practicing but evolving the art into what is now known to the world as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, or “The soft art”.