Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil 1856-1949 (Volume 1) (56 page)

There were also fewer jiu-jitsu fighters. Real fighting was harder than staged fighting. It tended to be less entertaining for the general public. There was no money in amateur sports jiu-jitsu, and jiu-jitsu skills were not needed to make money in luta livre or catch. If anyone wanted to learn jiu-jitsu, it had to be for reasons other than making money.

.
Chapter 25 Notes

Chapter 26

1949

By way of publicizing an upcoming tournament of “jiu-jitsu”
,
A Noite
provided a capsule history of the art and game in Brazil. It went as follows.

Carioca sports fans had come to know the sport of
Kano, Conde Koma, and other celebrated masters, through sensational combats in local rings fought by illustrious practitioners such as the Gracie brothers, among others, against representatives of luta livre, boxing, and capoeiragem. The jiu-jitsu stylists always prevailed [
sempre com vantagem para o jiu-jitsu
].

But jiu-jitsu was not “methodically diffused” in
Brazil, encouraging charlatans looking to make easy money. Little by little the art disappeared to the point where it is [in 1949] nearly forgotten.
1

To rectify this lamentable state of affairs, the academies of Yassuiti Ono in
São Paulo and Augusto Cordeiro in Rio joined hands to produce a “
cotejo
” [competition] of amateur jiu-jitsu. The objective was to stimulate interest in the game in both cities. Students of both academies engaged in matches, and the two professors conducted demonstrations with their students. The event was scheduled for June 4, beginning at 8:30 Saturday evening, at the Roberto Palacio de Patinação on rua N.S. Copacabana, 337. Admission was free.

First up were two “
juvenil
“ matches, the first between Carlos Monteiro and Jorge Mello Souza, the second between Darcey Cardoso and Teobaldo Sampiao. These showed that anyone, even children and adolescents, can train “
jiu-jitsu moderno
”, increasingly referred to as “judo”. These were followed by matches pitting students of one academy against students of the other. Seizo Matsuy, Mario Shymada, Salvador Cardia, and Batistia Sarty represented Academia Ono. Luiz Alberto Moreira, Floriano Cadeço, Casimiro Troncoso, and Antonio Afonso Alves represented Academia Cordeiro. Several of them had already competed publicly in the preliminaries to catch wrestling shows.
2

The program was successful in attracting attention to the art and to the academies of both Ono and Corderio. Journalist Ney Mac
hado wrote a four page article with large and numerous photographs. According to Machado, in contrast to old jiu-jitsu [
jiu-jitsu antigo
], “leg techniques and take-downs are used more often in modern jiu-jitsu” [“
o jiu-jitsu moderno usa com mais frequencia os golpes de pernas e derrubamentos
”].

Machado also provided some historical background, mostly accurately concerning
Kano, Conde Koma, and Geo Omori, but inaccurately about Jorge (George) and Helio Gracie (they were
not
students of Conde Koma).

He also referred to an otherwise obscure a jiu-jitsu man named Takagi Saigo. Takagi had been captain of a jiu-jitsu team at the
escola superior de agricultura do japão
. He opened an academy of jiu-jitsu in São Paulo in 1924. The academy however quickly closed due to lack of students. It was not until Geo Omori revived the practice of fighting in circuses and stage shows in 1928 that jiu-jitsu experienced a surge of renewed interest.

The photographs accompanying Machado’s text amply showed that
“
jiu-jitsu moderno
” included traditional self-defense maneuvers such as knife disarms, and ground grappling, in addition to throws.
3

Ostracism and Rescue

By March or 1949, sports of the ring (meaning professional wrestling and more exactly, catch-as-catch-can, or luta livre) had fallen into ostracism. At that precise moment the Metropolitan Federation of Pugilism [
Federação Metropolitina de Pugilismo
] stepped in and came to the rescue.

The Federation at that time was composed of and directed by Euzebio de Queiroz Filho (president), Albio Ferreira de Almeida (director-tecnico), Altimiro Cunha (assistant director), and R. A. A. Coutinho (director of amateurs).
4
The members of the Federation were a “group of heroes” [“
um grupo do herois
”] who were going to save “sports of the ring” (professional wrestling) by using part of the profits to subsidize an amateur version of the sport.
5

With the cooperation of the Confederação Brasileiro de Pugilismo, Paschoal Segreto Sobrinho, president, they decided to hold an amateur tournament at Palacio Metropolitano, which had been built in 1947 as a venue for catch wrestling. What was different now was that the matches would be between amateurs and by implication would lack the objectionable features of professional wrestling. Professional wrestling obviously
needed to continue in order to support amateur wrestling.

For the first time the Carioca public would see a “Campeonato de Luta Livre” for amateurs [
para amadors
]. It was called the Campeonato Carioca. For this event and all others, including professional, regulations were drawn up.

There were four categories of amateur:
Estreantes
were competitors with no prior experience.
Novissimos
were competitors with 10 or fewer fights.
Novos
had up to 20 fights, with at least five wins at
novissimo
, or had won a championship of
novissimos
. A
veterano
had more than 20 fights with at least five wins at
novos
, or had won a championship of
novos
.

Not counted were fights with no decision, wins by ‘walk-over’, demonstrations, or exhibition matches.

There were eight weight classes:
Mosca
(52 kilos),
Galo
(56 kilos),
Pena
(61 kilos),
Leve
(66 kilos),
Meio Medio
(72 kilos),
Medio
(70 kilos [
sic
, 80 kilos was obviously intended]),
Meio Pesado
(87 kilos), and
Pesado
(over 87 kilos). No one who weighed less than 50 kilos was permitted to compete.

All of the rules were very precisely spelled out. Amateur matches were
three rounds of 5 minutes each with 1-minute breaks. Professional matches could vary from 4-10 rounds of 5 minutes to 1-2 rounds of 30 minutes.

Amateur rules took the form of prohibitions. That is, amateurs could use any technique that wanted [
Os competidores poderão se agarrar da forma que quiserem
] except for the following: ‘flying-mares’, full-Nelsons [
Nelson inteiro
], or chokes [
estrangulamento
]. Amateurs could not use chops [
cuteladas
], knees [
joelhadas
], elbows [
cotoveladas
], straight-kicks [
ponta-pés
], or headbutts [
cabeçadas
]. They could not grab or pull the hair or beards, could not twist the nose, ears, fingers, toes, or genitals; could not stick fingers in the eyes, could not throttle, scratch, or bite [
estrangular com os dedos, arranhar, ou morder
].

What they could do was to try to bring their opponent to the mat and if possible to pin him.

Professionals were permitted to use limited striking, including knees above the waist, headbutts to the body, and straight-kicks above the waist. They could also use headlocks [
gravatas
], twists [
torcões
], locks [
chaves
], bear-hugs [
cinturas
], leg-scissors [
tesouras
], throws [
tombos
], pressure holds [
golpes de forçamento
], and chokes [
estrangulamento
].

Amateur catch was apparently not much different from amateur sport free-style wrestling, while the professional version was not much different from
what it had always been, except that some care was taken to remove the more ludicrous aspects that had earned the scorn of sports writers and fans. For one example, article 4 warned that a fighter would be disqualified if he attacked the opponent outside of the ring.

In all, it was a conscientious if self-serving attempt to put catch, or luta livre, on a serious footing as a amateur and professional sport. The directors of the Federation expressed their plans in altruistic terms, implying that they simply wanted to help spread amateur ring sports, and that the professional version would presumably help to pay for it. An equally plausible interpretation would be that they hoped to use amateur wrestling to support and legitimize professional wrestling. Like most people, their intentions and motivations were probably mixed.

From the point of view of jiu-jitsu, it didn’t matter. Or rather, it was unclear what it meant. Jiu-jitsu seemed to have little future as a professional sport as long as it aimed at doing what catch could do better. As an amateur sport, jiu-jitsu seemed to be on the losing side. Judo was already well on the way to monopolizing amateur sports jiu-jitsu (under the name of judo), or, more objectively, submission grappling with kimonos (how much standing versus ground grappling would be rewarded was still an open question, but had already come to strongly favor standing).

For jiu-jitsu to maintain a separate identify it would need to establish competition rules that were different from judo rules. With the Federation’s new strategy to revitalize professional catch wrestling, jiu-jitsu now faced a double challenge. Amateur jiu-jitsu competition rules would need to be different from amateur catch rules as well different from judo. Otherwise, jiu-jitsu was at risk of being classified as catch with a kimono, or judo without throws.

New Phase

1949 was the beginning of a new phase for jiu-jitsu in
Brazil. Professional jiu-jitsu had run its course. As a form of theatrical entertainment, fans clearly preferred luta livre and catch wrestling to jiu-jitsu and voted with their admission tickets. There was no shortage of supply when it came to catch wrestlers. Candidates for stardom simply needed to be extremely large and capable of a certain degree of acting. A catch or luta livre wrestler could participate in a “jiu-jitsu” contest, and many did, but that generally required at least a modicum of authentic skills. The more responsible among sports writers quickly spotted and lambasted fakes. Being Japanese also helped, and if not that, at least a lineage to a Japanese master (whether real or invented). Or at bare minimum, a Japanese sounding name might suffice. The mystique of jiu-jitsu almost required the stylist to be small. Jiu-jitsu was the science by which a small person could defeat a big person. How else could the fans grasp that he had used “jiu-jitsu?” But jiu-jitsu was not easy to fake. Unfortunately, being Japanese and being huge were often incompatible.

The jiu-jitsu masters of the 1930’s were all dead or old, or had moved on. Geo Omori died in 1938. George Gracie was 38 years old. Helio Gracie had not fought since 1937. Oswaldo Gracie died in 1943. Yassuiti Ono was older and had aligned himself with the growing international judo movement. The same was true of Takeo Yano. At 40 years of age with almost 15 years of ring wear-and-tear behind him, most of the last ten with giants and goliaths with names like King Kong, Gorila, and “
Human Mountain,” he was ready to move more into the promotional side of fighting. At the end of 1949, Yano relocated to Porto Alegre, where he founded the Academia Yano and produced a Campeonato Brasileira de Luta Livre on November 27.
6

Yano was also involved in judo. He didn’t give up on pro
wrestling. He was still at it as late as August 1958 when he participated in the Tornei Internacional de Luta Livre at Maracanazinho.
7

Jiu-jitsu
in Brazil had arisen in the context of show wrestling, first luta romana, then luta livre, or catch-as-catch-can as it was also called. Because luta livre/catch could be scripted, it was generally more entertaining than jiu-jitsu, especially when jiu-jitsu was presented as “real” fighting and the fighters tried not to lose.

Pro
wrestling was easier and paid more (as Masahiko Kimura later said). That encouraged jiu-jitsu stylists who wanted to make money to emulate catch methods and to work in harmony with catch people. Any jiu-jitsu representative who couldn’t or didn’t want to do that left the business. Eventually, everyone got old. Fewer new jiu-jitsu men wanted to be pro wrestlers or professional fighters. At the same time, efforts were made by people like Oswaldo Fada, Yassuito Ono, Augusto Cordeiro, and the Gracie brothers, to promote jiu-jitsu as an amateur sport, along the lines of amateur luta livre (eventually called called luta livre olimpica) and especially, judo.

Some, like Yassuiti Ono and Augusto Cordeiro, took the next logical step and simply became judokas. That meant adopting the international rules of judo, which increasingly rewarded standing technique at the expense of ground fighting (which had already been comparatively neglected, but became even more so when judo was adopted as an Olympic sport). Takeo Yano merged with the judo community while keeping one foot in the pro
wrestling ring.