Much of our focus here at FloGrappling is on jiu-jitsu—we focus on the sport first, lifestyle second, and martial art third. But what is jiu-jitsu? And how does Brazilian jiu-jitsu differ from Japanese? 

There's no question that jiu-jitsu's origins go back to Japan. There, along with skills such as horse-riding, archery and swordplay, it was a form of hand-to-hand combat taught to the warrior caste. 

In the late 1800s, Jigaro Kano—the father of judo—assimilated styles and united various clan-like practitioners of jiu-jitsu in his grand plan to create a single national martial discipline that could be practiced by the Japanese population. 

Brazilian jiu-jitsu's genesis was led by one of Kano's emissaries, Mitsuyo Maeda (aka Conde Koma) who traveled and taught hand-to-hand combat around the world in the early 20th century. While in South America, his teachings were passed onto the Gracie family, some feisty and entrepreneurial folks who saw plenty of potential in the Japanese export. 



For decades, they tested and developed their form of jiu-jitsu in challenge matches, professional bouts and even street fights. Successive generations further honed it into an effective and efficient grappling-based art that was surprisingly dominant when pitched against other styles of fighting. 

The Japanese style of jiu-jitsu they learned from Maeda evolved into a different animal. The world now knows it as Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In latter years, those closest to the family would refer to it as Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (some still do). 

Purely grappling-based challenge jiu-jitsu matches in Brazil date back to the 1920s and 30s (and possibly earlier). But the first official sporting rules weren't codified until 1967 with the creation of the first jiu-jitsu federation, the Jiu-Jitsu Federation of the State of Guanabara. Regularly held competitions allowed practitioners to compete more often and the art enjoyed a subsequent boom and a period of technical growth. 

The rules devised then are remarkably similar to those used in modern competitions, such as IBJJF tournaments, with points awarded for attaining widely understood control positions and immediate victory via submission. The growth of the competition scene allowed practitioners to become like athletes – they trained with competition in mind and developed specific strategies for tournaments. 



At the same time, jiu-jitsu was also being used in no-holds-barred (vale tudo) contests—early fights that would give rise to mixed martial arts. The rise of professional mixed martial arts began in 1993 with the inaugural UFC, and jiu-jitsu's status as an indispensable addition to the toolkit of a complete fighter was determined on that November night in Colorado when Royce Gracie showed what a trained grappler can do. 

Love MMA? Check out our new sister site, FloCombat, for coverage and live streaming of events from around the world! 

Sport jiu-jitsu and the jiu-jitsu used in MMA share many similarities, but are markedly different. Although we've seen many crossover champions, such as UFC heavyweight champ Fabricio Werdum, success in one arena does not guarantee a repeat performance in the other. The ring is an unforgiving place that has crushed the dreams of many a jiu-jitsu practitioner. 

The divergence further continues as competitors exploit the rules employed by sport jiu-jitsu in a strategic bid to maximize their chances of winning. Tactics exist in sport jiu-jitsu that could never be employed in a "real" fight. Though core principals remain the same, specialization for gi-based jiu-jitsu tournaments has meant many grapplers are unqualified to compete in MMA. 

Speaking of real fights, where does self defense come in? 



There is a hardcore faction within jiu-jitsu who believe that if you don't know self defense techniques, then you don't really know jiu-jitsu at all; that if you're not prepared to handle an aggressor in a scenario where sporting techniques aren't just invalid, but outright dangerous, then you're not a real practitioner. 

Whether you believe Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a sport, a form of self defense, or something that must be trained to compete in mixed martial arts, it doesn't matter. 

Jiu-jitsu is all of those things. It's what you want it to be. And that's what makes it so much fun for those of us who have it as part of our lives.

What does jiu-jitsu mean to you? Let us know in the comments!