Origin and legacy
History of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: from feudal Japan to global sport
Few martial arts have such a rich and so Brazilian history. Jiu-Jitsu was born from samurai combat techniques, crossed the ocean in the hands of a Japanese master and was reinvented in Brazil by the Gracie family to become one of the planet's most respected combat sports. This is the complete story — chapter by chapter.
Chapter 1 · 17th–19th Century
The Japanese origin: from samurai to Kano's Judo
Jiu-jitsu (also spelled jujutsu) was born in feudal Japan as a set of hand-to-hand combat techniques of the samurai. On the battlefield, a warrior disarmed or knocked off his horse needed to neutralize an often-armed and armored opponent — and brute force wasn't enough. The answer was a system based on levers, throws, joint twists and strangles: the art of winning by yielding, using the opponent's energy against themselves. Hence the name jiu (soft, flexible) jitsu (art, technique): the "soft art".
Over centuries, dozens of traditional schools (koryu) developed their own methods. In the late 19th century, educator Jigoro Kano studied several of these schools and organized a pedagogical and sports synthesis, founding Judo and the Kodokan Institute in 1882. Kano preserved the repertoire of throws and submissions, but added teaching method, training safety (with randori, controlled free fighting) and a philosophy — "maximum efficiency with minimum effort" and "mutual benefit". It was this modern and systematized strand that, a few decades later, would cross the ocean to Brazil.
Chapter 2 · 1914
Conde Koma and arrival in Brazil
Mitsuyo Maeda was one of the greatest fighters trained at Kano's Kodokan. Rather than follow only the sports path, he embarked on a long international tour performing wrestling challenges against boxers, freestyle wrestlers and other arts — real combats that tested jiu-jitsu's effectiveness in practice. On his journey through Europe, the United States and Latin America, he earned the nickname "Conde Koma".
Maeda arrived in Brazil in 1914 and ended up settling in Belém, Pará. There he had the support of Gastão Gracie, a local businessman who helped him establish himself. In return — and recognizing the young man's talent — Maeda accepted to teach his techniques to Carlos Gracie, Gastão's oldest son. It was this encounter, between a Japanese master veteran of countless challenges and a curious young Brazilian, that planted the seed for everything that would come after.
Chapter 3 · 1925 onwards
The Gracie family and the birth of the Brazilian style
Carlos Gracie moved to Rio de Janeiro and in 1925 opened the family's first academy, teaching brothers Oswaldo, Gastão Jr., Jorge and especially Helio. That's when Japanese jiu-jitsu began to transform into something new.
Helio Gracie, smaller and fragile in health in his youth, could not perform many techniques that depended on strength and explosion. Instead of giving up, he began to adapt each movement: he prioritized leverage, angles, timing and the use of weight and body positioning instead of pure strength. The principle that defines Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to this day was born there — the idea that a smaller and weaker practitioner can overcome a larger and stronger opponent through technique, especially in ground fighting.
This shift from standing combat to the ground, where physical strength matters less and technique matters more, is the heart of the art. Over the following decades, the Gracies refined guards, sweeps, passes and submissions that barely existed in systematized form in original jiu-jitsu — building their own technical body, genuinely Brazilian.
Chapter 4 · Vale Tudo
The "Gracie Challenges" and proof in vale-tudo
To prove the method worked, the family adopted a bold stance: the open challenge. The famous "Gracie Challenges" invited fighters of any style — boxing, freestyle wrestling, capoeira, various martial arts — to face a family member in fights with few rules, the so-called vale-tudo. Victory after victory, the reputation of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu grew in the country throughout the entire 20th century.
More than marketing, the challenges were a laboratory. Each real fight against a different style showed what worked and what needed to evolve, pushing the art forward. It was this culture of testing technique in true confrontation — and not just in theory — that gave BJJ its reputation for proven effectiveness.
Chapter 5 · The Golden Age
Rolls and Rickson: technical evolution and myth
If Carlos and Hélio created the foundation, the next generation elevated it to another level. Rolls Gracie is remembered as one of the greatest technical innovators in the history of the art: he incorporated elements of Olympic wrestling and other modalities into Jiu-Jitsu play, expanding the repertoire of takedowns and transitions and influencing practically all the masters who came after. Many of the great names of the following decades passed through Rolls' mat.
From this same lineage came Rickson Gracie, considered by much of the community the greatest Jiu-Jitsu fighter of all time. With a record of invincibility in challenges and vale tudo, including in Japan, Rickson became the ultimate symbol of the style's effectiveness and technical depth — a name that, to this day, confers authority on any lineage tied to him.
It's from this root that Black Code springs. Our founder, Master Ronaldo Villa Verde, received the black belt and, later, the coral belt from the hands of Rickson Gracie himself — a direct lineage that connects the federation to the heart of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu history.
Chapter 6 · 1993
UFC 1 and the worldwide explosion
The culture of challenge crossed the Atlantic when Rorion Gracie, son of Helio, emigrated to the United States. In 1993, he helped create the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) — a tournament designed to answer the old question: which martial art is most effective in real combat?
The answer came in the octagon. Royce Gracie, chosen to represent the family for being lighter and less physically advantaged than his opponents, defeated fighters from boxing, karate, freestyle wrestling and other arts using Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu — mainly ground fighting and submissions. The impact was immediate and global: BJJ ceased to be a Brazilian secret and became studied by fighters worldwide. UFC 1 is recognized as the event that introduced Jiu-Jitsu to the planet and proved, in practice, what the Gracies had been saying for decades.
Chapter 7 · Legacy
Brazil's influence on global Jiu-Jitsu
Few sports carry such a strong national brand. The very name by which the art is known in the world — "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu", BJJ — recognizes Brazil as the country that reinvented it. Brazilian terms are part of the global technical vocabulary, and the kimono (gi), the greeting, the belt hierarchy and the very philosophy of the mat continue to be shaped by the tradition created here.
After UFC 1, demand for academies exploded, first in the United States and then on every continent. Brazilian masters emigrated to teach, forming generations of black belts worldwide — from Los Angeles to Tokyo, from London to Abu Dhabi. To this day, having an instructor of Brazilian lineage, or a graduation recognized by Brazilian masters, is an authenticity badge that athletes worldwide seek. Brazil not only adopted Jiu-Jitsu: it transformed it into national heritage and exported it as art, sport and philosophy of life.
Chapter 8 · Today
Jiu-Jitsu as a global sport
Jiu-Jitsu ceased to be just the base for MMA and consolidated itself as an independent combat sport, with its own competitive calendar. The International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF), founded in 1994, organizes the main competitions with kimono (gi) — the Worlds, Pan-Americans and Europeans — and defines much of the scoring rules and categories used as the worldwide reference.
In parallel, the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC), created in the late 1990s, became the main grappling competition without kimono (no-gi), bringing together the world's best every two years. Professional leagues emerged, award-winning super fights, athletes who live exclusively from the modality and a consolidated market of academies, events, courses and products. Today Jiu-Jitsu is practiced in more than 100 countries — as a sport, as self-defense and as a lifestyle.
Chapter 9 · Tradition and Future
Lineage, graduation and the role of federations
In Jiu-Jitsu, the belt is not just a symbol of technical level — it's a link in a lineage. Every legitimate graduation traces back, teacher to teacher, to the founding masters. For a long time, however, this record was informal: it was only the teacher's word, with no document to prove it. With the global expansion of the sport, this became a problem — dubious graduations and belts without foundation emerged.
That's where modern federations come in. They analyze and record each athlete's belt, with graduation date and responsible instructor; issue QR code-verifiable certificates; and maintain public profiles that prove each practitioner's history — bringing to Jiu-Jitsu the same formal credential that Judo and Karate already had. It's exactly that mission that gives meaning to Black Code: preserve tradition and lineage, verify who really is who, and ensure no legitimate athlete, instructor or academy goes invisible.
Continue the journey
Be part of this story
Each belt registered in the federation is a new link in this chain that started in feudal Japan and passed through the hands of Brazil's greatest masters. Formalize your graduation and meet the federation's leadership.