Gracie family

The Gracie family (ˈɡɾejsi) is a prominent martial arts family from Brazil known for their development of Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ). They have been successful in combat sport competitions including mixed martial arts, vale tudo, and submission wrestling events. As a family, they uphold the Gracie challenge, which promotes their style of modern Jiu Jitsu (BJJ).

Origins

One part of the Gracie family line in Brazil descended from George Gracie, a Scotsman from the Carronhill estate in Dumfriesshire who emigrated in 1826 when he was 25 years old. George was a son of James (b. 1772), the second son of family patriarch George Gracie (b. 1734), and Jean Patterson. From George came Pedro, from Pedro came Gastão, who was the father of Carlos Gracie and Hélio Gracie. Carlos Gracie and Hélio Gracie are 1/8 Scottish.

Jiu-Jitsu

Gastão Gracie from Rio de Janeiro, the grandson of George Gracie through his son Pedro married Cesarina Pessoa Vasconcellos, the daughter of a wealthy Ceará family, in 1901 and decided to settle in Belém do Pará. Gastão Gracie became a business partner of the American Circus in Belém. In 1916, the Italian Argentine Queirolo Brothers staged circus shows there and presented Mitsuyo Maeda, a Japanese judoka and prize fighter. In 1917, Carlos Gracie, the eldest son of Gastão Gracie, watched a demonstration by Maeda at the Da Paz Theatre and decided to learn judo. Maeda thus accepted to teach Gastão's son Carlos. In 1921, however, following financial hardship and his own father Pedro's demise, Gastão Gracie returned to Rio de Janeiro with his family.

Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (book)

Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is an instructional book written by Helio Gracie, published, in first edition, in 2006, by Editora Saraiva.

Summary

Describes the techniques of the martial art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). The back cover says: "Helio Gracie, creator of the Gracie Jiu-jitsu, had a weak health in adolescence, being forbidden to perform any physical activity, until the chance put him on the tatami. His fascinants results, inside and out the ring, thrilled all a nation and made him the first hero of brazilian sport. After dedicating all of his life to this style of fight, Helio presents his first and unique book about the art that has made him a triumphant man. Born in 1913, now he lives in Itaipava, in Rio, and teaches the jiu-jitsu".

Style

The book develops also the idea that, according to the author, the BJJ would be, among all, the martial art the most efficient, what would have been proven by the results of the traditional championship UFC of mixed martial arts.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (/dʒuːˈdʒɪtsuː/; Portuguese: [ˈʒiw ˈʒitsu], [ˈʒu ˈʒitsu], [dʒiˈu dʒiˈtsu]) (BJJ; Portuguese: jiu-jitsu brasileiro) is a martial art, combat sport, and a self defense system that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting. Brazilian jiu-jitsu was formed from Kodokan Judo ground fighting (newaza) fundamentals that were taught by a number of individuals including Takeo Yano, Mitsuyo Maeda and Soshihiro Satake. Brazilian jiu-jitsu eventually came to be its own art through the experiments, practices, and adaptation of judo through Carlos and Hélio Gracie (who passed their knowledge on to their extended family) as well as other instructors who were students of Maeda, such as Luiz Franca.

BJJ promotes the concept that a smaller, weaker person can successfully defend against a bigger, stronger assailant by using proper technique, leverage, and most notably, taking the fight to the ground, and then applying joint-locks and chokeholds to defeat the opponent. BJJ training can be used for sport grappling tournaments (gi and no-gi) and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition or self-defense.Sparring (commonly referred to as "rolling") and live drilling play a major role in training, and a premium is placed on performance, especially in competition, in relation to progress and ascension through its ranking system.