According to the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF), Jiu-Jitsu was born in India and was practiced by Buddhist monks.

Concerned with self-defense, these monks created techniques based upon principles of balance, with a special system for manipulating the body and creating leverage to avoid the use of force and weapons. With the expansion of Buddhism, Jiu-Jitsu spread through Southeast Asia and China and finally arrived in Japan where it was developed and became popular.

In the last days of the 19th century, Jiu-Jitsu masters emigrated from Japan to other continents, teaching the martial art and its system of and presenting public matches. Esai Maeda Koma, also known as Count Koma, was one of these teachers. After traveling with a troupe that fought in various countries of Europe and the Americas, he arrived in Brazil in 1915 and settled in the city of Belém, State of Pará, the following year, where he met Gastão Gracie.

The father of eight children, five boys and three girls, Gastão Gracie became a Jiu-Jitsu enthusiast and took his oldest son, Carlos, to learn to fight from the Japanese. Naturally frail, at 15 years old, Carlos Gracie, found in Jiu-Jitsu a form of personal fulfillment. At 19, he moved to Rio de Janeiro with his family and adopted the profession of martial arts fighter and teacher. He traveled to Belo Horizonte and then to São Paulo, teaching and beating opponents who were physically stronger. In 1925 he returned to Rio and opened the first Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy. He invited his brothers Oswaldo and Gastão to help him and raised his younger brothers: George and Helio. Carlos shared his knowledge with his brothers, adapting and refining the techniques to the naturally frail characteristics of his family.

He also taught them his philosophy of life and concepts about natural nutrition and was a pioneer in the creation of a special diet for athletes, the Gracie Diet, which made Jiu-Jitsu synonymous with health.

Having created an efficient self-defense system, Carlos Gracie saw in Jiu-Jitsu as a way to become a more tolerant, respectful and confident man. He sought to prove the superiority of Jiu-Jitsu and build a family tradition and he changed the international rules of Japanese Jiu-Jitsu in the fights performed by him and his brothers. Carlos Gracie thus initiated the first case of a change of nationality of a martial art – or any sport – in all of modern sports history. Years later, the Japanese martial art became known as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and was exported worldwide, including Japan.

Now, you can be a part of the History by taking Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Classes in Boca Raton, Florida-FL.