History of Jiu-Jitsu Part 1 (Before the Gracies)
For years I had only heard about the history of Jiu-Jitsu from the Gracies. Rorion Gracie said that his father Helio was the driving force behind most of the evolution of Jiu-Jitsu from what they learned from Count Koma. In the Machado’s schools and in other circles, there is talk about the older brother Carlos’s influence on the art. I had heard that Rickson Gracie said Jiu-Jitsu originally came from India. And I have heard rumors from several reputable black belts that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu wasn’t actually anything new- that it was derived from Kosen Judo.
This post will give a brief summary of the history of Jiu-Jitsu in Japan before it came to Brazil. It is based on a book that I highly recommend: “Mastering JuJitsu” by Renzo Gracie and John Danaher. The history section of this book is awesome.
I am going to start with the history of Jiu-Jitsu at the point that Jigoro Kano (the founder of Judo) came onto the scene, which was in the 1870’s.
Jigoro Kano: Created Judo from Jiu-Jitsu
Kano had studied Jiu-Jitsu with a few different teachers, and his last teacher’s school- Koryo Jiu-Jitsu, emphasized throwing technique (as opposed to ground work).
Even though Kano had only 4 years experience by the time he opened his school, he felt that there were some flaws in the way that Jiu-Jitsu was practiced and perceived.
The first was that Jiu-Jitsu was perceived as an art practiced by thieves and ruffians. So he created sanctioned competitions with rules and rituals. He forbade betting on matches.
He called his art Judo as opposed to Jiu-Jitsu. Do is derived from the Chineses word “Tao,” which means way, as in way of life. “Jitsu” means technique. He wanted everyone to see the practice as a way of life, and not just a collection of tricks that you can use to defeat an attacker.
Next he organized the techniques into a curriculum, and he added a ranking system. For example, he made sure that beginners learned how to fall. Up to this point, many students would get hurt because they weren’t prepared for falling.
One of the most important things Kano did was to make the practice principle based. Many treated Jiu-Jitsu as a collection of moves that you could do for victory, without any underlying strategies. The number one principle he emphasized was seiryoku zenyo, which means maximum efficiency, minimum effort. The way he applied that was to always practice off balancing (kuzushi) before throwing someone. If you keep someone off balance, they are unable to throw or strike you and you can throw them much easier with much less effort.
The change that he implemented that increased his fame and influence probably more than anything was his change of how the art was trained. Up to this point, practice was done in kata format, which was students executing moves without resistance. The eye pokes, groin grabs, fish hooks, striking techniques, and other dangerous techniques that were part of the art couldn’t be executed full force with resistance. Kano got rid of these more dangerous techniques and had students practice randori, or free sparring.
He actually did little as far as innovation of techniques. His syllabus of 1895 actually only had about 45 throws in it, and most of these were part of Koryo Jiu-Jitsu. What he did was to get students to become more effective at applying what they knew.
Kano opened his Judo school in 1882. He was only 22 years old. More and more people joined his school, and Koryo Jiu-Jitsu students would challenge his Kodokan Judo students, and the Judo students would win easily. He gained a lot of students who changed from Koryo to Judo.
In 1886, the Tokyo police were considering adopting a martial art to train their officers in. A tournament was held to see which system was the most effective. The Judo students won 13 of 15 matches, and the other 2 going to a draw. Most of the wins were by ippon, or a throw where the person lands flat on their back.
By 1887, Kano had over 1,500 students! As the fame of his system grew, traditional Jiu-Jitsu was pushed into the background. By 1911, Judo was part of public school education. He was made a member of the International Olympic committee and sought to make Judo an Olympic sport (which it is today).
Enter Mataemon Tanabe
Everything changed when Mataemon Tanabe entered the scene. He was a practitioner of Fusen Ryu Jiu-Jitsu, which had a lineage traced back to Takeda Motsuge, who was trained as a Buddhist monk and took the name Fusen.
Tanabe challenged the Kodokan Judo school, and a tournament was held. Instead of standing and engaging the Judokas standing, he would sit down. The Judokas knew very little ground work, as their focus was throwing, so Tanabe soundly defeated the Judokas. They were shocked as they had been the dominant force for several years, easily defeating all schools if Jiu-Jitsu up to this point.
Kano, seeing the effectiveness of the submissions on the ground, and Judo’s lack of ground technique, asked Tanabe to teach his curriculum to his Judo students. Fusen Ryu Jiu-Jitsu was incorporated into the Judo curriculum.
Sadly, little is known about Fusen Ryu and Mataemon Tanabe. As Kano absorbed the Fusen Ryu techniques into Judo, Fusen Ryu faded into obscurity. After Tanabe defeated the Judo students, especially up to 1925, there was a huge influence of ground technique (ne waza) to the point that many Judo matches were won and lost on the ground and not standing.
Mataemon Tanabe
In the book that I am summarizing here that I mentioned earlier, there is a section about Yukio Tani that is fascinating. Tani, a Fusen Ryu practitioner, tried to open a Jiu-Jitsu school in England, which soon failed, but then went into a partnership with a British wrestler and showman who arranged that Tani would do challenge matches for the public. Tani, who was only 5 feet tall and 125 pounds, averaged 40 or 50 challenge matches per week for years. He made people put on a gi, and then would throw them and submit them on the ground.
Yukio Tani
Tani, being smaller than most of the British challengers, would often end up on his back and use the guard. He was extremely successful, yet he remained even minded and modest throughout his life, claiming that he was of only average ability in Japan.
Tani was trained in Fusen Ryu by Torajiro Tanabe and/or Mataemon Tanabe. After years of constant fighting and challenge matches, he got tired of this lifestyle and opened a school. Jigor Kano came to England in an effort to expand Judo, and asked Tani if he would agree to call himself a Judoka and his school a Judo school. Judo was very organized and had a lot of prestige, so Tani agreed. Tani was made a 2nd dan black belt in Judo. His story gives an idea how Fusen Ryu faded into obscurity, swallowed up by the larger and more organized Judo.
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