Suddenly,
Japanese became interested in their forgotten Kodokan judo heroes, Masahiko
Kimura [木村政彦]
and Mitsuyo Maeda [前田光世].
Interest
was not limited to fans. Scholars also took notice. Unfortunately, most of
Maeda's career was spent outside of Japan. He left in 1904 and never went back.
So Japanese researchers needed to rely on foreign sources of information.
Japan's interest in Maeda stemmed directly from his alleged association with the
Gracie family, specifically as the putative (unconfirmed) instructor of Carlos
Gracie. Most books and academic articles mentioned the Gracie family,
specifically Carlos Helio or Rickson, and asked such questions as: How and why
did Helio Gracie develop his unique brand of jiu-jitsu out of Maeda's Kodokan
judo? Indeed, most foreign writers ask this question, assuming that what Royce
did in UFC 1, 2, and 4 was what his father created in the 1930's (or even
later). Otherwise, there is not much to be explained. Obviously, BJJ is now very
different from judo. Anyone who has trained both knows what the differences are.
People with some knowledge of judo history will also have a pretty good sense
for why they came about (hint: internationalization and sportification, both of
judo and BJJ, albeit at different times).
This
brings us to history. Unfortunately, Japanese researchers suffer the same
limits, but even more so, that everyone else does. To know what happened in
Brazil, you have to be able to access and read old Brazilian newspapers and
other documents. As of 2014, all or most, of this information has been
available in Choque 1-3. Before that, researchers used what they
could get and interpolated (made up) the rest based on what seemed plausible,
what they read on the internet, academy web sites, or martial arts magazines.
Virtually everything derived from Gracies in Action (1988 and 1992) and
the Pat Jordan Playboy article (1989). Myths, misinformation, and misconceptions flourished as one writer
recycled what another writer said, nobody seeming to notice that it all came from
the same source, namely Rorion Gracie (and later, academy owners and others with
vested interests in maintaining the myths).
1.
神山典士
[Kohyama
Norio]. (1997). ライオンの夢―コンデでコマ=前田光世伝. 東京:小.学館.
Two
books about Maeda were published in 1997. Both contributed to and helped spread
the Gracie Myths. Norio Kohyama's Raion no Yume was first, published May
10. Takao Marushima's followed on November 1. Marushima did not cite Kohyama's
book but he could not have avoided hearing about it. It is possible that he read
it, if for no other reason than to avoid covering too much of the same material
in too similar a way. They differ in various respects but the most significant
is that Kohyama's is not about the Gracie family (although the book was inspired
by Maeda's alleged relationship to them), while Marushima's book is
substantially about the Gracies.
Kohyama
conceded that he wrote his book because of Maeda's resurrected fame thanks to
the Gracies claiming a direct lineage from him (pp. 21-22). He also notes on page
225 that judo history was impacted by Kimura's match with Helio Gracie in 1951. His own research did not reveal anything
about Maeda and the Gracies. His conclusions appear to be based on a December
1993 interview with Helio and Rorion in the magazine 格闘技通信. Like
everyone else (until GTR, Jiu-Jitsu in the South Zone, and Choque
1-3), Kohyama did not attempt, or was
unable, to verify what Helio and Rorion said. He probably didn't care that much,
His interest was in Japanese immigration and related topics. Maeda's ring
career was covered vaguely and briefly (pp. 101-109) and repeats most of the
standard myths and misinformation about his fight record based on two old books
written by a middle-school friend of Maeda named Susukida Zaun in 1912. The stories about
Maeda's 2,000 victories without a defeat "were not exaggerated", he
says, (p. 107), he says without any evidence, basing his confident but entirely
erroneous conclusion on the assumption that Maeda must have been fighting and
winning whenever there was no record of his activities.
Contrary
to the stories, most of Maeda's activities were documented and he did
very little in the way of real fighting. (See Craze 2 for details).
Based on what Helio and Rorion said,
and possibly other similar things he obviously heard or read, Kohyama
wrote that Carlos learned jiu-jitsu directly from Maeda but because Carlos was
dead (as of 1994) it was left to the remaining family members to carry on
Maeda's legacy for the benefit of Japanese MMA fans [ "コンデ-コマに直接柔術を習ったカルロスはすでに亡くなっていることから、グレイーシ−家としても前田光世にまつまる記録はほとんど残っていないという状況だが、グレイーシ威光から、日本の格闘技ファンの間でコンデーコマ=前田光世に対して新しい光りが当たり始めた."]
He
quotes Helio, who said, "In 1914 Maeda and Iomata were in Brazil. My four
older brothers, Carlos, Gastão, and George, learned jiu-jitsu from Maeda for 3
or 4 years. And there was me. [ “一九一四年、(アマゾンのべレンに)
前田とイオマタという日本人がいて, 私の兄弟は三−四年間前田に柔術を習った。私は五人兄弟で四人の兄がいて、上からカルロス
(この大会の後九四年に死亡)、ガシトン
(八十七歳)、ジヨージ (故人)、そして私だ.]
[2]
Helio
erred on several points. Although Oswaldo on at
least one occasion claimed that all of the brothers (except Helio) learned from
Maeda, there is no evidence that they did. For his part, Helio had no way of knowing
what his brother did or didn't do, other than what Carlos told him. Moreover
Helio went on record in 1951 as saying that he never even heard of jiu-jitsu
until January 1930 or March 1929 at the earliest [Choque 2 chp. 2, and Choque 3
app. 5]. In other words,
whatever Helio said about Carlos and Maeda was based (at best) on what Carlos
told him.
Helio’s oldest son, Rorion (age 43)
was also present at the interview.
He explained
that "In Brazil Maeda taught the old stiff style of jiu-jitsu. My dad was
handicapped by a lack of physical abilities so he tried to use his physical
limitations as an advantage, with the mentality of "soft overcomes
hard" of the original jiu-jitsu. That's what Gracie jiu-jitsu is."
[Rorion: "前田がブラジルに伝えたオールドースタイルの柔術は動きが硬かった。だから、体格に恵まれなかった父は体力のハンデイを逆に武器にしながら、“柔よく剛を制す”の精神でオリジナルの柔術を作っていたんだよ。それがグレイーシ柔術さ"].
Rorion
was born in 1951 so he obviously had no idea what his father did or didn't do,
apart from whatever Helio may have told him. The theme of a weak man using
science to overcome strong men is a jiu-jitsu marketing cliché that goes back to
the days of Jigoro Kano himself [Choque 3, app. 5; Craze 1 chapter
5]. As Choque 1 documents, Helio was not a frail,
small, weak boy during his first jiu-jitsu career (1932-1936) or second either
(1950-1955), but on the contrary was a healthy, studly athletic young man. He had already been a swimming and rowing champion
(both strenuous sports) before he begin learning jiu-jitsu, and he was not
particularly small either, for a Brazilian of his age, at that time, other than
in comparison to the typically obese pro wrestlers in his milieu (see almost any
chapter of Choque 1-3.) Recall that most of Helio's ring opponents were about his
own size or even smaller, see here.)
The chief impact of Kohyama
's book came not from anything in it--it's almost all about immigration. The
impact came from an internet review by Mark Gorsuch, who added his own erroneous
personal opinion that Maeda was a vale tudo fighter who used kicks and elbows to
take it to the ground after which he finished by submission. This error
subsequently took on a life of its own in the forums and blogs (see here for
details about that).

2.
丸島隆雄
[Marushima Takao] (1997) 『前田光世―世界柔道武者修行―』島津書房.
Takao Marushima's
biography of Count Koma/Mitsuyo Maeda is available only in Japanese and
currently out of print. It achieved fame on the internet via Graham Noble's 2000
article on Yukio Tani. Graham suggested that Marushima supported the claim that
Tani was a student of Tanabe Mataemon and thereby was a Fusen-ryû stylist.
Unfortunately, Graham apparently did not read Marushima's book. Others, who should have
been more cautious, then cited Marushima based on what Graham said, none of them
having actually read the book.[3]
Marushima's book is as much about the Gracies as Maeda.
Unfortunately, all of his information (about the Maeda connection and Gracie
Jiu-jitsu origins) came from Gracie marketing videos and Japanese magazine articles
promoting the Gracies. Marushima was even cited by Japanese researchers (see below).
Incidentally, the Gracies did not call their jiu-jitsu Gracie Jiu-Jitsu or even
claim that it was different from Japanese jiu-jitsu until Rorion moved to
America (with one brief exception, see Choque 3). On the contrary what they
claimed was that their brand of jiu-jitsu preserved the features of old
jiu-jitsu that modern judo abandoned. The issue about what their jiu-jitsu was
didn't even arise until judo became an international sport and Brazilians
started to want to learn it and compete.
According to Marushima (1997, p. 140)
Tani
was a student of Tanabe Mataemon of the Fusen-style of jujutsu ["谷は、不遷流の田辺又右衛門の門弟である"].
He adds, "Tanabe’s specialty was ne-waza.
He was known for having measured forces with the Kodokan’s 'strong men' and
making them lick a
bitter cup”
[寝技を得意とし、講道館の猛者たちと渡り合い、彼らに苦杯をなめさせたことで有名だ."] .
No
mention of Tani's father is made.

|
Above,
the "Eel" (ウナギ)
Tanabe Matauemon, from 秘録日本柔道
{Secret Record of Japanese Judo]
p. 110. The picture originally
appeared in 1939 in Maruyama Mitsuzo's [丸山三造
]Dai-Nihon Judo-Shi 大日本柔道し(p.
888). |
Marushima
did not cite a specific source, but in his references and bibliography section
he listed `秘録日本柔道
by
Kudō Raisuke
[工藤雷介],
published in 1972 and Minoru Yamada's
1997 book Yawara: The World of Unknown Japanese Jūjutsu [Yawara:
知られざる日本の柔術の世界]
as references. In fact the claim
about Tani and Tanabe is in Kudō's
book, page 47. Kudō
provided no evidence however. (In general the accuracy of Kudō's
book is highly variable and should be used with caution.)

According
to Minoru Yamada (p. 40), both Taro Miyake and Yukio Tani were Fusen-ryû
students of Tanabe in Kobe. But Yamada's source for this is a 1983 book
about Pro Wrestling [日本プロレス秘語] by
Kojima Teiji, who provides no source.
Concerning
Tani's background, sources conflict. Some say Fusen-ryû, some say
Tenjinshinyô-ryû,
some say both, some say neither, and some say nothing. What they all have in common is
that none provide any credible evidence. The closest to evidence is Gunji
Koizumi, co-founder with Tani of the Budokwai in England. Koizumi claimed that he studied
Tenjinshinyô-ryû
and two other styles of jiu-jitsu. If he did, he probably would have been able
to recognize Tani's background from his grappling style. But Koizumi's own
background is based only on his own claim. Kosuke Nagaki, in a 2009
article, trying to pin down Tani's background, cites a half dozen sources
(including Inoue and Yamada, mentioned above) and a 1955 article written in
Japanese by Koizumi, but concludes that none of it is conclusive and he is
simply (for the time being) trusting Koizumi without being able to verify what
he wrote.

3.
井上俊 [Shun Inoue].
(2004). 武道の誕生.
吉川文官.
Shun Inoue
[ 井上俊]
is a respected historian. His article "The Invention of the Martial Arts: Kanô Jigorô and Kôdôkan
Judo” is frequently cited in academic sports history (most academic articles
are never cited, so 50 citations is a lot). This article has nothing
to do with the Gracies. In 2004 he wrote a brief (195 pages) book about how
unarmed military skills became a "way" [武道野誕生]
as well as a sport and an ideology. It also is not about the Gracies
but it does acknowledge them (justly, because they more than anyone else
resurrected not only Maeda, but also Kimura, and stimulated a sort of boom in
grappling history). The main significance of Inoue's book consists of a single,
short unsupported reference on page 65 to Yukio Tani as originally being a
Fusen-ryû
stylist. This is important because it is cited by other writers/researchers to
support their claims about Tani's background, hence (in some cases) the sources
of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
He has little to say about the Gracies other than that
Maeda taught Carlos Gracie (p. 69). He doesn't provide a source for this
statement and there is nothing in his references section that could support it. To
be clear, there is no huge myth or misconception here, only an unsubstantiated
claim. But the fact that a respected historian such as Inoue made the claim led
other writers (such as Kosuke Nagaki, above) to cite it as a source for their own subsequent
speculations.
4. 谷釜尋徳
[Tanigami Hironori]. (2013).
柔道の普及と変容に関する研究∼
グレイシー柔術に着目して∼(その
2). 東洋法学,
56(3), 65-76.
In
2013, Tanigami Hironori is not a historian, but rather a law professor at Toyo
University and apparently a MMA fan. He wanted to ascertain
how and why Helio Gracie "transformed" [変容]
the judo that Mitsuyo Maeda brought to Brazil into the style that we know it as
today. It is sad but not surprising that he gets most of the historical facts
wrong. That is because the source of his information was a 1995 VHS tape titled グレイシー柔術の歴史秘技 (The
History of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu's Secret Techniques) along with the unreliable
parts of Toshinori Masuda's 2011 biography of Kimura,
木村雅彦はなぜ力道山を殺さなかったか.
Some of Masuda's book is reliable but unfortunately Tanigami cited the parts
that are not (discussed below).

The
majority of Prof. Tanigami's source citations are to this 1995 tape, with some others to
books that also depend on Gracie marketing materials or Gracie fan publications.
Even the few better sourced books he refers to are not without problems. Here
are a few errors.
Error
1. Helio fought many Vale Tudo fights.
Fact:
Helio had a total of two vale tudo fights. The first was in 1935. The second and
last was in 1955. He won the first, lost the second. The fight with Antonio
Portugal was a mixed styles fight. (See Choque 1, chp. 12, chp. 15, and Choque
2,
chp. 6).
Error
2. Fought boxer Antonio Portugal in 1930 and won by choke. Helio was 17 at the
time.
Fact: The year
was 1932. Helio won by arm-lock. (Choque 1, chp. 12).
Error 3. Also
in 1930, Helio fought and defeated a Japanese judoka named Namiki.
Fact:
The year was 1932. Helio did not defeat Namiki. The result was a draw (more
accurately, an empate, which meant that neither man was submitted,
knocked out, or gave up or abandoned the ring. It did not mean that the match
was equal. (Choque 1, chp. 12).
Error
4. Also in 1930, Helio fought and defeated Manoel Rufino dos Santos.
Fact:
Helio never fought Manoel Rufino dos Santos. Carlos did, not Helio. The year was
1931, not 1930. Carlos didn't defeat Rufino Santos, he lost by abandoning the
ring. (Choque 1, chp. 11).
Error
5. In 1935, Helio fought and defeated Takeo Yano (矢野武雄)and Tomikawa
Tomioki (冨川富奥),
using ground grapplingいずれも寝技で退けている].
Fact:
Prof. Tanigami cited a statement on
page 367 of Masuda (2011): "[Yano and 冨川富奥] successively
yielded to Helio's ne-waza" ["相次いでエリオの寝技に屈した].
Prof. Tanigami rephrased Masuda's verb 屈した as
退けている. Both mean that Helio won by way of ne-waza. But both are wrong. Neither one lost to
Helio Gracie. Yano had only one fight with Helio, which was a draw. Helio never
encountered anyone
.
There
was a judoka by that name in São Paulo between at least 1933 and
1939. However he practiced judo chiropractic (整骨術)
and bone-setting (ほねつぎ) and didn't
fight Helio Gracie. Helio Gracie didn't have any grappling
matches with any Japanese other than Namiki, Miyaki, Massagoichi, Yano, and Yassuiti
Ono (and a sufficiency test with Naoiti Ono) until 1951 (in 1951 his Japanese
opponents were Yukio Kato and Masahiko Kimura).[4]Error
6. Helio fought a boxer named Waldemar Santana in 1956. The fight lasted over 3
hours and ended in a draw.
Fact: Santana did have
some rudimentary striking training, including capoeira, but boxers are people
who compete in boxing matches, which Santana did not, therefore he was not a
boxer. He was an all-round luta
livre fighter with both jiu-jitsu and judo training (whose career is described in
Choque 2 and Choque 3). The fight took place in
1955, not 1956. It did not end in a draw. It ended by Helio Gracie being knocked
unconscious by Santana's foot. However, it is true that it lasted over 3 hours. Prof.
Tanigami's source for this misinformation was the 1995 Gracie VHS
tape.
Error
7. In 1936, Helio fought Takeo Yano again. This time they drew. The 1995 Gracie
tape is again the source.
Fact.
Helio and Yano met only once and the result was a draw (more accurately, an empate,
which meant that neither man was submitted, knocked out, or gave up or
abandoned the ring. It did not mean that the match was equal. See Choque 1,
chp. 16 for full details).
It
is unfortunate that Prof. Tanigami choose to rely so heavily on what any prudent
researcher should automatically be suspicious of, namely marketing materials
written by people with a direct financial interest in presenting a particular
point of view. Somewhat more understandably he also trusted T. Masuda, but
failed to adequately assess Masuda's use of sources (or rather, to notice that
Masuda sometimes made claims without offering any sources). Perhaps the message
is that law professors are not necessarily competent historians.
The
above is only a small sample of myths, misconceptions, and misinformation to be
found in (or in some cases, extrapolated from) Japanese sources. There is plenty
more. Japanese writers are not immune to the urge to speculate, and sadly, have
been just as apt to rely on inherently flawed source materials (i.e., Gracies
in Action and derivatives) as almost everyone else (until Choque).
Obviously, there is also plenty of good solid reliable information in Japan,
especially in places that were not destroyed by American B-29s during the last
war or Japanese war criminals trying to cover their tracks.[5] Most of it is available only in Japanese, and most of that is out-of-print,
but then, that is what libraries and librarians are for. The trick is to use tried
and true historical research methods to separate fact from fiction.
**
Notes
1.
Titles are given in the original and quotations are likewise in the original
Japanese mixed script, the reasons being that, if you intend to look for the
books/articles in Japanese libraries, you will most likely need this, rather
than English translations or romanized Japanese. If you can read Japanese,
romanization serves no purpose, and if you can't read Japanese, it also
serves no purpose. Names and titles are provided in English when it serves a
useful purpose.
All
translations are by Roberto Pedreira unless otherwise indicated.
2.
Helio mentioned that he had four older brothers but named only three. He left
out Oswaldo who was also a fighter and teacher and helped establish the
Gracie name between 1930 and 1943. Unfortunately, he was the only brother who
didn't live to a ripe old age. See Choque 1, chps. 10-22 for details about
Oswaldo Gracie.
3. If
it turns out that Graham Noble can read Japanese fluently and has read Marushima,
Roberto will stand corrected. That does not seem to be the case, judging from the
introduction to Graham's essay "Mas Oyama in America" and considering
that the title of Marushima's book is cited and translated incorrectly, which is easy to explain if Graham merely
saw a copy of the book (the removable dust cover specifically), but hard to
explain if he actually read it. Perhaps Graham's other source, Shingo Ohgami,
had a copy and Shingo's statement was based on what Marushima said (and
Marushima's statement was based on what someone else said that someone else
said....)? It is a minor point. Marushima does in fact say part of what Graham
alleges. It is Marushima's source that is problematic. Citing books you haven't read is a dangerous
practice, but sadly, all too common, even in the respectable academic
world. For
a typical and highly relevant example, see:
Martin, Laura. (1986). “Eskimo words for
snow”: A case study in the genesis and decay of an anthropological example. American
anthropologist, 88(2), 418-423.
Or (updated commentary
on Martin):
Pullum, G. K. (1991). The great Eskimo
vocabulary hoax and other irreverent essays on the study of language.
University of Chicago Press.
4.
If you are curious about what a "sufficiency test" is (or rather was),
read Choque 1.
5. As
we know, Kyoto (home base of Butokukai) was spared for what can only be
considered a flukish reason.
Concerning Kyoto and the Butokukai's good luck, see Here.
The Butokukai itself, however was abolished soon after the
war.
**