Carlos Gracie (September 14, 1902October 7, 1994) was a
Brazilian martial artist who is credited with being one of the primary developers of
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Along with his younger brother
Hélio Gracie
Hélio Gracie (October 1, 1913 – January 29, 2009) was a Brazilian martial artist who together with his brothers Oswaldo, Gastao Jr, George and Carlos Gracie founded and developed the self-defense martial art system of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, also ...
and fellow students
Luis França and
Oswaldo Fadda
Oswaldo Baptista Fadda (August 1, 1920 – April 1, 2005) was a practitioner of jujutsu and developer of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, reaching the rank of "nono grau", a 9th degree red belt. In 2014, he was posthumously awarded the 10th degree ("décimo ...
, he helped develop
Brazilian jiu-jitsu based on the teachings of famed Japanese ''judōka,''
Mitsuyo Maeda in Kano Jujitsu (
Judo
is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...
) and is widely considered to be the martial-arts
patriarch
The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...
of the
Gracie family
The Gracie Family () are a prominent martial arts family originally from Belém, state of Pará, Brazil whose ancestors came from Paisley, Scotland. They are known for creating the self-defense martial arts system of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, also kno ...
. He purportedly acquired his initial knowledge of Jujitsu by studying in
Belem under Maeda and his students. As he taught the techniques to his brothers, he created a martial arts family with Hélio and with other members of the Gracie family who provided key contributions to the style and development, eventually creating their own self defence system named
Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is distinct from its indirect predescessor
jujutsu
Jujutsu ( ; ja, link=no, 柔術 , ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu, is a family of Japanese martial arts and a system of close combat (unarmed or with a minor weapon) that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdu ...
, focusing primarily on the grappling techniques while downplaying the striking elements common among older schools of Japanese jujitsu.
Biography
Early career
Carlos was born in
Belém
Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará) often called Belém of Pará, is a Brazilian city, capital and largest city of the state of Pará in t ...
in 1902, the first of eight children. He was a mischievous, aggressive child, prone to getting involved in brawls and getting expelled from schools.
When Carlos was 15 years old, hoping to find a way for him to vent his aggression, his father
Gastão took him to a
professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...
challenge hosted in the circus he owned, where Carlos witnessed how the
judoka Mitsuyo Maeda defeated a much bigger man. Impressed by the feat, he allegedly started taking classes under Maeda and his assistant Jacyntho Ferro, albeit for a short time, as his family moved to
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
for economic reasons.
[
There, Gracie started working as a bouncer in his father's casino until a falling out between them, and after some other jobs he became a pupil of Donato Pires dos Reis, a police hand-to-hand instructor and apprentice to Maeda.][ Under him, Carlos had his first formal training, learning especially self-defense-oriented techniques.]
He started his career on the rings by challenging judoka Geo Omori
or Geo Omori as he became known in Brazil, was a Japanese-born Brazilian martial artist who is credited for being one of the creators of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.[São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...]
in 1929, although he was initially rejected due to Carlos's lack of training and experience. They eventually faced off in two exhibitions (non-competitive matches) of "jiu-jitsu" (judo
is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...
and jiu-jitsu
Jujutsu ( ; ja, link=no, 柔術 , ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu, is a family of Japanese martial arts and a system of close combat (unarmed or with a minor weapon) that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdu ...
were terms used interchangeably at the time in Brazil) staged as a favor to Carlos's father for the Municipal Guard in January 1930.[
Afterwards, Carlos and his brother ]George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
founded a small school in the city's Perdizes neighborhood, where they brought in Omori to teach them further jiu-jitsu.[ Gracie claimed to have faced several "no holds barred" challenges in his school by this time.][ However, after Carlos was arrested and jailed for assault on three men who had supposedly insulted his girlfriend, the two brothers had to move back to Rio de Janeiro. There they joined Donato Pires's school, opened in Marquez de Abrantes in September 1930.][ The date of their return to Rio is both popularly and officially given as 1925,][ but sources of the time place it in the mentioned year.]
Association with Donato Pires
During this time, aside from both teaching and learning jiu-jitsu under Pires, Gracie dedicated himself to participate in unsanctioned prizefights in small bars, promote cockfighting
A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the ''word'' gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or ente ...
, and experiment on nutrition
Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient ...
and dietary habits. He would claim in 1981 to have competed in amateur boxing with a 20-0 record during this time, while his daughter Reila Gracie cited him as a national middleweight champion,[ but there's no record for those claims. In June 1931, Pires moved to Santa Catarina due to his job in the ]Ministry of the Economy A ministry of economy, ministry of commerce, ministry of economic affairs or department of commerce is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the economy or economic policy.
List
Examples of such mini ...
, leaving his academy in Gracie's hands.[
Aside from martial arts, Gracie was also interested in alternative medicine and occultism due to the early death of his first girlfriend because of illness.][ He started working as a spiritual consultant to Bank of Brazil executive Oscar Santa Maria, a member of the Brazilian Rosacrucian Society, in which Carlos was deemed as having "strong mediumnic powers." In exchange for funding his academy and other ventures, Carlos would put Santa Maria in contact with a supposedly ]Peruvian
Peruvians ( es, peruanos) are the citizens of Peru. There were Andean and coastal ancient civilizations like Caral, which inhabited what is now Peruvian territory for several millennia before the Spanish conquest of Peru, Spanish conquest in th ...
spirit named Egidio Lasjovino. Gracie was also a follower of Helena Blavatsky
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, uk, Олена Петрівна Блаватська, Olena Petrivna Blavatska (; – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian mystic and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 187 ...
's theosophy
Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion ...
.[
On July 3, 1931, Gracie and Jayme Ferreira celebrated a challenge event between three jiu-jitsu fighters from his academy and three ]capoeira
Capoeira () is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics, music and spirituality. Born of the melting pot of enslaved Africans, Indigenous Brazilians and Portuguese influences at the beginning of the 16th cent ...
fighters trained by Ferreira, echoing a street fight Carlos supposedly had years before with a capoeirista named Samuel. The challenge forced the fighters to wear judogi
''Judogi'' (柔道着 or 柔道衣), also called keikogi or dogi, is the formal Japanese name for the traditional uniform used for Judo practice and competition.
A judogi is somewhat similar to a karategi (空手着 or 空手衣, Karate uniform) ...
s and forbade strikes on the ground, which caused one of the capoeiristas, Coronel, to be disqualified upon hitting George Gracie. In the other two matches, Oswaldo Gracie and Benedicto Peres defeated their opponents. The event was negatively received, however, not only due to a ruleset perceived as too favorable to the jiu-jitsu side, but also to accusations that Ferreira (a Greco-Roman wrestling teacher associated to Gracie) was not a capoeira master and therefore his side could not represent the art.[
]
Conflict with Manoel Rufino dos Santos
Famous professional wrestler and sportsman Manoel Rufino dos Santos criticized further the Gracie family, so a fight was stipulated for August 22, 1931 between him and Carlos Gracie himself to settle it down. In response to the announcement, Carlos's teacher Donato Pires said through the press that Gracie's claims to be a direct apprentice to Mitsuyo Maeda were false and thus was equally unfit to represent jiu-jitsu.[ This almost caused the fight to be delayed when Carlos and his brothers assaulted Donato in front of the America Hotel in Catete one day before the event.][ By this incident, ties to Pires were severed and the Marquez de Abrantes academy became fully a property of Gracie.][
The match, which was the only professional bout in Carlos's life,][ finally took place on the promised day. During the first two five-minute rounds, Rufino dominated the bout,][ forcing Carlos to defend from his ]guard
Guard or guards may refer to:
Professional occupations
* Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault
* Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street
* Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning
* Prison ...
and at one point even hit illegal strikes that were admonished by the referee.[ At the third, Rufino passed his guard and locked a submission hold, which Gracie avoided by diving out of the ring through the ropes. The referee ordered the match to be restarted on the center of the ring, but Gracie locked a ]guillotine choke
The guillotine choke, also known as Mae Hadaka Jime (前裸絞, "front naked choke"; compare to a rear naked choke) in judo, is a chokehold in martial arts applied from in front of the opponent, often on the ground but can also be done while stan ...
in the process, causing turmoil.[ Carlos claimed Rufino had tapped out while his opponent denied it, so the judges deliberated for some time and decided to solve the argument by restarting the match. However, Gracie refused to fight, insisting he had already won, and thus Rufino was declared winner.][
The conflict then moved to the newspapers, where Rufino criticized Carlos's skill and dismissed his jiu-jitsu credentials, leading Carlos, George and Hélio to assault him in front of his teaching place at the ]Tijuca Tênis Clube
Tijuca Tênis Clube, abbreviated as Tijuca T.C., is a Brazilian professional basketball club that is based in the Tijuca neighborhood, in the Northern Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
History
Tijuca's parent athletic association was fo ...
on October 18. They hit him repeatedly with a steel box and immobilized him for Carlos to apply an armlock, dislocating Rufino's shoulder so badly that it needed surgery.[ This time the brothers were arrested and were convicted to two years and a half in prison for assault, as well as for trying to run away during the arrest, but their connections to ]President of Brazil
The president of Brazil ( pt, Presidente do Brasil), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil ( pt, Presidente da República Federativa do Brasil) or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head o ...
Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...
granted them a pardon.[
]
Retirement
The same year, Carlos retired from competition and focused on teaching and managing his brothers. After moving to Fortaleza, he started teaching jiu-jitsu in the national police while he researched in the Gracie Diet. He also became a real estate investor
Real estate investing involves the purchase, management and sale or rental of real estate for profit. Someone who actively or passively invests in real estate is called a real estate entrepreneur or a real estate investor. Some investors actively ...
.
In 1948, he published his book ''Introdução ao Jiu-jitsu'', which was mostly a nutrition
Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient ...
and philosophy manual despite its title.[
]
Judo and Brazilian/Gracie Jiu-Jitsu
Gracie Jiu Jitsu developed in Brazil in the early 1900s using techniques learned from the great Japanese Judo
is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...
champion, Mitsuyo Maeda (known in Brazil as Conde Koma—the "Count of Combat"). Maeda, who was taught by Jigoro Kano, the creator of Judo, fought hundreds of victorious challenge matches against practitioners of other styles using his Judo techniques to overcome them. Maeda had become a champion Judoka in Japan and was so highly revered by Kano he was sent around the world to spread Judo, alongside other fellow talented Judoka.
According to reports, the young Carlos Gracie refined his system by fighting in matches that were open to all skill levels and learning from those experiences to make Jiu Jitsu more effective. Some reports claim that he advertised in newspapers and on street corners for new opponents upon whom to practice but no documented records of this exist. Gracie claimed to have fought anyone and everyone who was willing, regardless of size, weight, or fighting style. Later, his claims were challenged by his brother Jorge Gracie, who stated; "My brother Carlos is nothing when it comes to fighting. Carlos does not have the authority nor the competence to speak about Jiu Jitsu… Who created the sporting tradition of my family if not me, in all honesty, with my career?"
This tradition of open challenge is a part of the heritage of Gracie style of Jiu Jitsu. After Carlos retired from the ring, he managed the fight careers of his brothers and sons, continuing to challenge fighters of all styles throughout the world. This tradition of open challenge is continued by his sons, grandsons, brothers, nephews, and students.
Gracie diet
Carlos Gracie copied and adapted a nutritional regimen, from the Argentine/French naturist Juan Esteve Dulin, and is now marketed as the Gracie Diet. Following the Hippocratean maxim "Let your food be your remedy", Carlos aimed this diet to a system that would primarily prevent illness on days of competition. The basic principle of the Gracie Diet is to keep blood pH level neutral by consuming only compatible nutrients at each meal. The Gracie Diet is flexible but it definitely prohibits consumption of pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...
and its derivatives and adopts abstinence from alcohol and tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
.
Personal life
Gracie fathered 21 children, 13 of whom earned the rank of black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. At the time of his death, Gracie had twenty-one children, one hundred and six grandchildren, and one hundred and twenty-eight great-grandchildren.
In 2009, Carlos's daughter Reila Gracie (mother of Roger Gracie
Roger Gracie (born Roger Gracie Gomes; 26 September, 1981) is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist and former professional Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) competitor. The son of coral belt Mauricio Gomes and grandson of BJJ founder Carlos Graci ...
) published a biography, ''Carlos Gracie – O Criador De Uma Dinastia''; its English translation is titled ''Carlos Gracie: The Creator of a Dynasty''.
Instructor lineage
Kanō Jigorō → Mitsuyo "Count Koma" Maeda → Carlos Gracie Sr.
See also
* Gracie family
The Gracie Family () are a prominent martial arts family originally from Belém, state of Pará, Brazil whose ancestors came from Paisley, Scotland. They are known for creating the self-defense martial arts system of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, also kno ...
* List of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gracie, Carlos
1902 births
1994 deaths
Sportspeople from Belém
Brazilian people of Scottish descent
Martial arts school founders
Carlos
People awarded a red belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu
20th-century philanthropists