The practice of the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese martial art of

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, 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 Nipponi ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

dates back to 1914, and its presence spawned the creation of another notable martial art,

Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

. However, judo practice in Brazil did not cease after the inception of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, as evidenced by the fourth edition of the

World Judo Championships The World Judo Championships are the highest level of international judo competition, along with the Olympic judo competition. The championships are held once every year (except the years when the Olympics take place) by the International Judo ...

being held in

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 b ...

in 1965. Furthermore, in the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, Brazilian

judoka 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"). ...

Sarah Menezes Sarah Gabrielle Cabral de Menezes (born March 26, 1990) is a judoka from Brazil. In Judo at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 48 kg, 2012, she became the first Brazilian woman to win an Olympic gold medal in judo, after defeating the reigning ...

won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

in judo, with other Brazilians winning bronze medals in various divisions, placing Brazil sixth overall in the total number of medals won in judo at the 2012 Summer Games, signifying the continued vitality of the martial art in Brazil.

History

Inception

Mitsuyo Maeda ,Virgílio, pp. 22–25 a Brazilian naturalized as Otávio Maeda (),Virgílio, p. 9 was a Japanese ''judōka'' (judo practitioner) and prizefighter in no holds barred competitions, also being one of the first documented mixed martial artists of t ...

introduced judo to Brazil in November 1914. Maeda was a member of the

Kodokan The , or ''Kōdōkan'' (講道館), is the headquarters of the worldwide judo community. The ''kōdōkan'' was founded in 1882 by Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo, and is now an eight-story building in Tokyo. Etymology Literally, ''kō'' ( ...

, and one of judo's five top groundwork experts. Judo founder,

Kanō Jigorō was a Japanese educator, athlete, and the founder of Judo. Along with Ju-Jutsu, Judo was one of the first Japanese martial arts to gain widespread international recognition, and the first to become an official Olympic sport. Pedagogical inno ...

sent Maeda as something of an ambassador to broaden judo practice on a worldwide level. Maeda introduced judo (designated 'Kano Jiu-Jitsu' in that period) to

Carlos Gracie 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 and fellow students Luis França and ...

, the first of several in his

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

that would take up the sport and eventually mold it into Brazilian jiu-jitsu, sometimes referred to as "Gracie Jiu-Jitsu".

Masahiko Kimura vs. Hélio Gracie (1951)

After winning fights against boxers and

savate Savate (), also known as boxe française, savate boxing, French boxing or French footfighting, is a French kickboxing combat sport that uses the hands and feet as weapons combining elements of English boxing with graceful kicking techniques. ...

fighters in Europe,

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Masahiko Kimura was a Japanese judoka and professional wrestler who is widely considered one of the greatest judoka of all time.Jim Chen, Theodore ChenThe Man Who Defeated Helio Gracie.July 3, 2003. He won the All-Japan Judo Championships three times in a row ...

decided to accept an invitation from Gracie jiu jitsu co-founder

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 ...

to fight him in Brazil. In 1951, Kimura defeated Gracie in a

submission Deference (also called submission or passivity) is the condition of submitting to the espoused, legitimate influence of one's superior or superiors. Deference implies a yielding or submitting to the judgment of a recognized superior, out of re ...

judo match held in Brazil.Chen, J. (''c.'' 2003)
Masahiko Kimura (1917–1993): The man who defeated Helio Gracie
Retrieved on 7 April 2010. During the fight, Kimura threw Gracie repeatedly but Hélio was undeterred. Unable to subdue Gracie solely by throwing, the fight proceeded into groundwork. Kimura maintained dominance in the ground fighting portion, eventually positioning himself to apply a

reverse ude-garami An armlock in grappling is a single or double joint lock that hyperextends, hyperflexes or hyperrotates the elbow joint or shoulder joint. An armlock that hyper-extends the arm is known as an armbar, and it includes the traditional armbar, pr ...

(now commonly referred to as a Kimura). Gracie however did not submit to the technique which ultimately resulted in his elbow being dislocated as well as the

radius In classical geometry, a radius ( : radii) of a circle or sphere is any of the line segments from its center to its perimeter, and in more modern usage, it is also their length. The name comes from the latin ''radius'', meaning ray but also the ...

and

ulna The ulna (''pl''. ulnae or ulnas) is a long bone found in the forearm that stretches from the elbow to the smallest finger, and when in anatomical position, is found on the medial side of the forearm. That is, the ulna is on the same side of t ...

bones being broken. Gracie's corner threw in the towel at this point; it has been speculated that they delayed this action on Gracie's instruction. This marked a significant event in the history of judo in Brazil, as stated by Kimura; "20,000 people came to see the bout including President of Brazil". After being declared the winner, Kimura said "Japanese Brazilians rushed into the ring and tossed me up in the air".

World Judo Championships

Brazil has a major presence in the World Judo Championships.

first hosted the competition in October 1965, which was only the fourth edition of the championships. Although Brazil did not medal, this initial meeting would pave the way for future events. At the seventh edition of the Championships held in Ludwigshafen, West Germany, in September 1971, Brazilian judoka

Chiaki Ishii (born 1 October 1941 in Ashikaga, Japan) is a Japanese Brazilian judoka, who won Brazil's first Olympic medal in judo at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. Career Ishii trained judo since a very young age, at a dojo loca ...

earned the first World Judo Championship medal for Brazil. Since then Brazil has earned several medals.

João Derly João Derly de Oliveira Nunes Jr. (born June 2, 1981 in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul) is a former male judo player from Brazil, the only Brazilian to ever become a two-time world champion (along with Mayra Aguiar), winning consecutively the ...

however, is Brazil's only judoka to become a two-time world champion, winning the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and

2007 World Judo Championships The 2007 World Judo Championships are the 25th edition of the Judo World Championships, and were held at the Rio Olympic Arena, usually called ''Arena Multiuso'', that was built for the 2007 Pan-American Games, in Jacarepaguá, Rio de Janeiro, B ...

consecutively, the latter of the two hosted at Rio de Janeiro's HSBC Arena. This event marked the first time that Brazil had hosted a mixed-gender World Judo Championship. Brazil ranked second overall in medals behind

at the 2007 Championships, earning three gold medals along with a bronze. In 2013, Brazil once again hosted the World Judo Championships, this time placing fourth overall behind Cuba, despite surpassing Cuba in the total number of medals. In this event,

Rafaela Silva Rafaela Lopes Silva (born 24 April 1992) is a Brazilian judoka. She won gold medals at the World Judo Championships of 2013 World Judo Championships – Women's 57 kg, 2013 and 2022 World Judo Championships – Women's 57 kg, 2022 and at the J ...

made history by becoming the first Brazilian judoka to claim gold in a women's division.

Olympics

References

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