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Jiu-Jitsu History Script for Abu Dhabi Schools

By administrator on Tuesday, 03 November, 2009 1:49 PM

Hello kids, I’m gonna tell you a very cool history about how the Jiu-Jitsu, this sport we learn here at school, began.

 

Jiu-Jitsu means gentle art, in other words it’s a self-defense technique you spend little energy and there’s no need for strength, it allows a small and weaker person defends himself and defeats his opponent even if he’s physically bigger and stronger.

 

In Jiu-Jitsu there are falls, traumas, torsions, chokeholds, pressure points, locks and standing up in base that is the combat position.

Jiu-jitsu is practiced standing or on the ground.

Well, but what we want to know is how Jiu-Jitsu began.

 

Jiu-jitsu had begun a long long time ago in India and it was practiced by Buddhist monks. They were worried about their self-defense because they did long journeys on foot to buy food and pray for their Gods, they were frequently robbed and they couldn’t protect themselves, this way the monks developed a technique based in the principles of balance of the articulation system and of levers, avoiding the use of strength and weapons, that weren’t allowed in their religion.

For a long time that was the way they surprised his attackers. With the rising of Buddhism, monks went through many different countries spreading their religion and faith till they reached Japan where jiu-jitsu was developed and became famous.

From the late 19th century, some masters of jiu-jitsu had traveled to Japan and other continents making a living by teaching and joining fights where they faced other competitors from different martial arts.

Master Esai Maeda Koma, also known as Cont Coma, was one of them. After traveling with his team fighting in several countries in Europe and Americas, he arrived in Brazil in 1915 and set up in a city called Belem in the state of Para. The following year he met Gastão Gracie that helped him to settle down in this city.

Gastão has got eight children, five boys and three girls and became an admirer of jiu-jitsu. He took his older son, Carlos, to learn Jiu-Jitsu with Cont Coma.

Carlos was 15 years old, very weak and slim, but he found in jiu-jitsu a way to personal achievement. He could do things that his friends the same age couldn’t.

When he was 19, he went to Rio de Janeiro with his family and became a professional fighter and teacher of this martial art. He’d traveled through Brazil, giving lessons, beating his opponents that were physically stronger than him.

In 1925, he came back to Rio de Janeiro and opened his first gym called Gracie’s Gym of Jiu-Jitsu. Since this year Carlos had passed on his knowledge to brothers, adapting and improving the technique to the slim physical condition, that was a characteristic in his family. He also taught his philosophy of life and concepts of natural feeding because eating well is very important to the ones who want to practice Jiu-Jitsu. The Gracie diet transformed the jiu-jitsu to a healthy icon.

Years later, the Japanese martial art became to be known as Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and its teachers started to teach this art all over the world and that was the way teacher Carlos Santos has arrived here in your school, so that you can grow healthy and strong.

 

Here it comes some tips to a good jiu-jitsu class:

 

- Wash your hands before entering the tatami;

- Keep you kimono clean;

- Don’t step on the tatami wearing shoes;

- Don’t leave the tatami barefoot;

- Keep your nails and toenails clean and short;

- Respect your teacher and your classmates.

 

And do not forget eating well because food is the fuel for our body. Eat fruits and vegetables and drink lots of water.

 

I hope you had enjoyed this storytelling, and remember that Jiu-Jitsu is a sport to be practiced on the tatami with classmates and teachers and it doesn’t intend to promote violence.

 

Have a Nice Class!

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