En Estados Unidos, desde los años 90, el arte que practico y enseño se llama Jiu-Jitsu brasileño o, a veces, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Quítate el gi y podría llamarse lucha, lucha por sumisión o lucha con nogi.
Algunos argumentarán que los chicos de Judo han estado haciendo más o menos lo mismo que nosotros, los chicos de BJJ, pero durante mucho más tiempo. Si bien estoy en parte de acuerdo, la mayoría de los clubes de Judo se centran mucho más en la práctica de pie y mucho menos en el suelo.
(Foto: Judo de la vieja escuela en Japón)
Cuando los Rorion y otros Gracies trajeron el arte a los EE. UU., ya había pequeños grupos de practicantes japoneses de Jujutsu aquí. En su mayor parte, estos grupos eran bastante pequeños y no ofrecían mucho en términos de combate de resistencia total. Muchas veces, enseñaban kata (formas prescritas), similar a lo que las escuelas modernas de BJJ podrían hacer en sus programas de autodefensa.
(Foto: George Kirby, uno de los primeros profesores de jujutsu japonés en los EE. UU., enlace al DVD )
Debido a que estos grupos de jujutsu japoneses ya estaban en los EE. UU., necesitábamos un nombre para diferenciarlos de sus homólogos brasileños, de ahí el nombre BJJ o Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Después de ver a Royce en UFC 1 (en vivo por PPV en mi caso), quedó claro que el BJJ era muy diferente al Jujutsu japonés.
Durante mi primer viaje a Brasil me sorprendió saber que en su propio país no lo llaman BJJ, es simplemente Jiu-Jitsu. Mirando hacia atrás, tiene sentido. En Brasil continuaron lo que les enseñaron (por Mitsuyo Maeda y otros profesores japoneses). En aquellos primeros días parece que se prestaba mucha más atención al trabajo de campo, incluso en Japón.
(Foto: Entrevistando a la leyenda Terere en Brasil. Enlace al episodio. )
Eso me lleva a mi pregunta. El BJJ se ha extendido por todas partes en Estados Unidos. Al jujutsu japonés no le ha ido tan bien. Para mucha gente, Laicos y practicantes incondicionales, Jiu-Jitsu = BJJ. Cuando alguien dice “el actual campeón de UFC tiene un gran Jiu-Jitsu, nadie confunde eso con el estilo japonés. En mis conversaciones rara vez uso la B. Creo que es hora de dejarla. ¿Qué opinas? ¡Por favor, deja un comentario a continuación y házmelo saber!
26 comentarios
Personally, I prefer to refer to Jiu Jitsu as Gracie Jiu Jitsu, out of respect for the Gracie family who most definitely created a new style from the Judo, traditional jiu jitsu and early MMA that Master Maeda so kindly taught them.
From what i have read, the Gracie family do not claim to have invented all the techniques that they use in their system and include in their history info on the people who taught them the most and their lineage.
BJJ, although similar to Judo, is still significantly different in terms of the rules used, many of the techniques used, and the emphasis placed more on ground techniques. I would also add that with Vale Tudo and MMA, as well as the Gracie family’s system of self defence techniques, their system is much more comprehensive than Judo, which now has become focused primarily on international sport, more than anything else.
I would also say that the way that the Gracie family system works, it is fairly different to how most traditional Japanese Ju Jutsu train their system, not only in methodology but also in terms of technical content.
I like both systems of Jiu Jutsu, Gracie Jiu Jitsu as well as traditional ju jutsu (which incidentally may be making a come back with the recent popularity of the Jon Wick series of excellent and adrenaline packed martial art movies).
I think dropping the Gracie’s name is perhaps disrespectful but also means that some may not know what they are buying into. If the Gracie’s name stays, then it makes it easier for new students to identify.
Lastly, I also love Judo, and think that Professor Jigoro Kano was very innovative in his training methodology.
I am saddened however that some people who now do Judo want to forget that the art was created by a Japanese expert, who had trained in styles of Traditional Japanese Ju Jutsu that had been handed down from family member to family member.
Now that Judo is more considered a sport by most, removed from its martial application, I think that some westerners can divorce Judo from its origins, this i feel to a greater extent is ignorant as most the techniques that are taught in Judo and used in competition even today and but the same or hybrids of techniques that were developed by real innovative battle field warriors, who invented these techniques not to win medals but to win wars.
To take credit for their genius, from some westerner sports men, is ignorant in my opinion and perhaps theft (plagiarism).
Now, i am not saying i think the Gracie’s were wrong for putting their name on their system, as they certainly did put their own take on the techniques that they were taught in how they used the techniques and how they trained them etc.
I just think ignoring or erasing their name from their style is wrong. Along with erasing Prof Kano and Japan from Judo. Thanks
Justin
I like the idea – it is pretty confusing however there are some distinct differences. Perhaps it is more the ‘modern’ vs ‘traditional’?
In the wild you have the Cats, these include Lions, Tigers, Leopards, Cheetahs , Jaguars and Cougars. We don’t seem to see a need to rename any one of these species to be just the generic term of Cats. Jujutsu is the same, there is Brazilian Jiujitsu, Judo, Aikido, Sambo, Kawaishi Jujutsu, Small Circle Jujitsu, etc etc . We can easily differentiate beween these arts as Martial Artists, and we can easily contrast them from arts like Filipino Martial Arts, or the striking arts like Karate / Taekwondo , and all of their subsets. This suggestion to me is a bit like saying BJJ is it’s own art, and ignores it’s Judo roots, and Professor Kano who invented modern ideas of Randori, and who himself learned various traditional Jujutsu systems. I drive a car, it’s a Honda , it’s a Car and it’s a Honda.
Always just Jiu Jitsu or Gracie Jiu Jitsu/ GJJ. I cant stand the term BJJ! To me it now means a generic sport jiu jitsu that is on every corner having lost its street effectiveness of distance management through dilution and tournament focus. So many schools and BJJ lineages I have been to now do not even include self defense punch protection on the ground for all positions and all techniques along with how to strike strategically to create openings, let alone stand up clinching on strikes and the standard striking of Gracie Jiu Jitsu that makes it a stand alone, complete system! I always tell people which stems from my training with Helio Gracie and his lineage that now people think BJJ with strikes and the defense is mma, when in fact BJJ with strikes and the defense is Gracie Jiu Jitsu!
I agree 100% … ive never liked using
“Bjj” and its always annoyed me
I used to say “Gracie Jiu jitsu”
Because they really did change the Art and take it to a whole new level and pretty much created something new
However now that Jiu jitsu is known and popular , I usually just use “Jiu jitsu”
Awesome Post Jake