According to Grandmaster Helio Gracie, “the roots of the Jiu-jitsu tree were said to have originated in the mountains of India 2500 years ago. They supposedly stretched throughout China, and about 400 years ago settled in Japan where they found the soil to grow strong”. Gracie Humaitá Black Belt Pedro Valente states on the Gracie Miami webpage that the development of Jiu-Jitsu originated more than 5,000 years ago. He cites a third millennium B.C. era Babylonian copper stand which depicts a Hip-control technique used in Jujutsu as proof of the art having existed so far back. The exact origins of what we refer to as Jujitsu; Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’s grandfather, is unknown and largely debated, but amongst the members of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community, it is agreed to have started in India.

Traditional Japanese style Jiu-Jitsu or Jujutsu flourished during the Japanese feudal time period and was used by the Samurai during battle when weapons use was not feasible. In its earliest incarnation Jujutsu employed techniques that ranged from striking and eye gouging to joint locks and biting. Some of these techniques were not flashy or, by today’s standard sportsman-like but absolutely necessary since combatants were, literally fighting for their lives on the battle fields. With industrialization came the fall of feudal Japan and the need for the Samurai class, but the art remained. The etymology of the word “Martial” traces back to the Roman god of war, Mars. Wikipedia defines martial arts as the acts of Mars. It is through this analysis that we can define martial arts as acts of war. This definition of martial arts, as applied to warring, is best exemplified by the feudal samurai and their application of jujutsu. Many of the techniques present in Jujutsu were too dangerous to practice on training partners and were slowly discarded to decrease the risk of injury. Some disappeared all together while others remained only in Kata, . Though still vastly effective, modern-day jujutsu is a fragmented version of its original incarnation, and, at the turn of the 19th century, considered an outdated martial art by the Japanese. Amongst the people that adhered to this train of thought was the father of Jigoro Kano.

Kodokan Judo was founded by Kano Jigoro (Japanese form) in 1882. Kano was a maverick and visionary who adapted the form of jujutsu he learned to include more Randori or live sparring. He adapted and combined the ideas that he felt worked from all the different schools he studied from: fusing the throws from one school with the pins and chokes of another rival academy, borrowing elements from western wrestling and incorporating sumo aspects that he learned earlier in his life. Through his meticulous study of Jujutsu he was able to create its first successful offspring: Kodokan Judo, which would eventually gain such notoriety and mainstream acceptance that it would be included as an Olympic sport.

Jigoro Kano was the teacher of one of Judo’s best products and one of the first mixed martial artists; his name was Mitsuyo Maeda, also known as Count Koma and Count Kombat. Maeda was one of the people sent by Japan’s emperor to aid in a Japanese immigration colony in Brazil. Grandmaster Helio Gracie states in The Master Text that his father Gastao Gracie, a Brazilian businessman and politician, extended his influence to help Maeda in his colonization efforts, and in return, Maeda started to teach Gastao’s oldest son Carlos the art of judo. This is of particular noteworthiness, because at this time, it was not an accepted practice amongst the Japanese to teach the arts to westerners. Grandmaster Carlos Gracie started to learn judo from Maeda in 1917, Judo as an art was barely 35 years old.

Helio Gracie, an asthmatic child stopped attending school during the second grade because of the frailty of his health. He was the only one of the five Gracie brothers not allowed to participate in training or teaching Judo at Carlos’ academy. It is only by fate and chance that Carlos would run late for an appointment, and his 16-year-old brother, Helio would offer to teach the waiting student the private lesson he had scheduled with Carlos. The student was so pleased with Helio’s depth of knowledge and teaching style that he requested to continue his studies through him, not Carlos, from then on. This day marks the inadvertent birth of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, created by the Gracie’s smallest member. As stated before, Grandmaster Helio was a weak and frail child marred with health issues. Judo was an art designed to take advantage of speed, strength and explosiveness thus presenting Helio with problems in properly executing some of the techniques. Helio’s body type (5’6”, 140 lbs.), coupled with his competitive drive, genius and resiliency forced him to adapt the movements to his capabilities and lead him to base Brazilian Jiu-jitsu’s philosophical foundation on the principles of leverage, momentum and good technique. Helio and his brothers dedicated the rest of their lives to developing the art that revolutionized the way we look at combat sports today. A lifetime of careful study, experimentation, trial-and-error and battle testing had lead Helio and his family to create one of the fastest growing and most widely recognized self-defense systems known to date. It is important to make note that Helio Gracie followed the blueprint of Kano’s success in order to create a new and exciting martial art. Kano took all the ideas and techniques he felt would work from jujutsu and adapted them to his teaching philosophy and style. Helio would then do the same to Count Koma’s Judo, adapting it to shift the focus from speed and explosiveness to leverage, so that physically weaker people could apply the techniques successfully. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the evolution of judo, which in turn came from traditional jujutsu. All three terms are mutually exclusive and though elements of the original two systems are present in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, it is a free standing martial art.