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JUDO VS BJJ

By Benjamin Strusnik, June 20, 2022

Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are two Martial Arts that are highly complex with their technical movements. Both arts utilise a little from each other's movement repouture, as each art has throws and submissions. Both of these exceptional forms of combat have significant ties to the ancient art of Japanese Jujitsu, and in the case of BJJ it was inspired by the teachings of a Judo master in Jigoro Kano of Japan. The difference between BJJ and Judo has the same difference between brazilian and japanese jiu jitsu, as the latter is similar to Judo with its throwing maneuvers.

What This Article Covers:

Judo is symbolic of the ancient Japanese traditions of setting up grips in order to throw an attacker. Just like gjj vs bjj, Gracie Jiu Jitsu was founded from the same principles as Judo. Kodokan Judo's system of unarmed combat has now become predominantly a sport practised worldwide. The objective of Judo is to cleanly throw or to pin an opponent, competitors will also apply pressure to arm joints or to the neck, as they try and cause their opponent to submit. In BJJ the objective is to get the fight to the ground by utilising takedowns or pulling guard. Once the fight is grounded a competitor uses a combination of technical proficiency and systematic movements to first control an opponent before transitioning into a submission finish.

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THE ORIGIN OF JUDO

The history of Judo originated way back in 1874 from when the future prominent shogunate government official Jigoro Kano was fourteen years old. Jigoro Kano began boarding at an English medium school called Ikuei Gijuku in Shiba, Tokyo. The culture at the school was heavily embroiled with bullying, and this was the initial catalyst that caused Jigoro Kano to train in a combat defense system. Jigoro decided to find a Jujitsu dojo to train at, and after many attempts he could not find a willing teacher. Jujitsu had become obsolete due to a considerably westernized Japan, as many of the arts teachers were forced to follow a different career path.

Jigoro met an acquaintance of his father named Nakai Umenari, who was a former soldier for Japan. Nakai agreed to show Jigoro a kata, but refused to become his teacher. Jigoro was rejected by numerous Jujitsu teachers like Katagiri Ryuji, who believed it had no practical use, and Imai Genshiro of Kyushin ryu school of jujitsu also refused. Several years passed and Jigoro still could not find a teacher. Jigoro was finally referred to Fukuda Hachinosuke, a teacher of the Tenjin Shin'yo ryu of jujutsu, who had a small nine mat dojo where he taught only five students. Fukuda emphasized technique over the more combative form of application, which highly impacted Jigoro Kano's emphasis on randori, which is free practice in Judo.

After the passing of Fukuda in 1880, Jigoro Kano who had become his most skillful student in both randori and kata, was given the densho of the Fukuda dojo. Jigoro chose to continue his studies at the Tenjin Shin'yo ryu school under Iso Masatomo. Iso was more heavily focused on the kata and entrusted the randori instruction to his other assistants, which was mainly Jigoro. In June of 1881 Iso Masatomo passed away, so Jigoro went on to study at the dojo of Iikubo Tsunetoshi of Kito ryu where the focus was on nage waza which is throwing techniques. In February of 1882, Jigoro Kano founded his first school and dojo at the Eisho ji, which is a Buddhist temple located in the Shitaya ward of Tokyo. After two years of collaboration and dedication the temple would be called by the name Kodokan. By this time Jigoro Kano received his certificate of mastery, and this was the true founding of Kodokan Judo.

THE ORIGIN OF BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU

The origin of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has a direct lineage to Jigoro Kano's style of Kodokan Judo. In the 1900’s Jigoro Kano's most skillful student, Mitsuyo Maeda migrated to Brazil where he settled with a community of Japanese immigrants. Mitsuyo had become friends with a prominent businessman named Gastao Gracie who was in partnership with the circus in Belem. Gastao would help Mitsuyo with employment, as he offered him a place at the circus demonstrating Judo. After hosting a seminar at the Da Paz theatre in Rio, Carlos Gracie was in attendance and asked his father to introduce him to Jigoro. Gastao would facilitate a meeting and after a brief discussion Mitsuyo would take on Carlos as a student.

Carlos trained under Mitsuyo for several years, and would eventually pass on his knowledge to his brothers Oswaldo, Gastao Jr, George and Helio Gracie. Helio was always the smaller and lighter son in his family, and due to this fact, he struggled with many of the Judo throws. Helio went on to develop his own system of grappling that involved a series of leverage based joint locks and choke holds, which were predominantly secured as a ground fighting art. Helio taught his combat systems to many Gracie clan members including his son Rixon Gracie.

Over the course of the next few years Rixon Gracie became the family champion, as he defeated many pro wrestlers in Japan and a host of Luta Livre challengers in Brazil. Rixon had many battles as the animosity flared between luta livre and submission wrestling vs bjj fighters. It wasn't until the 1990's when Royce Gracie put the Gracie name on the map by winning the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the United States of America. As a result many students came flocking towards learning the art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

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MODERN FORMS OF BJJ AND JUDO

The evolution of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has seen the art divided into two separate sports, gi and no gi jiu jitsu. Both disciplines are extremely complex art forms that have risen exponentially in popularity around the world. The traditional Gi discipline has a massive following globally, as many athletes look to step foot into the IBJJF World Championship arena. Athletes like Roger Gracie, Xande Ribeiro, Rafael Lovato Jr, Marcus Almeida and Felipe Pena have been pivotal in the development of BJJ. The No Gi version of BJJ has exploded in recent years as one of the top tier sports in the United States, Abu Dhabi and across the globe. The evolution of No Gi BJJ has welcomed many art forms like sambo, judo, jiu jitsu and wrestling into its repouture, making the art form an extremely deadly combat system.

The modern form of Judo has seen the hand to hand combat self defense art, now turn more towards the limelight of sporting notoriety. Jigoro had been trying to get his sport into the Olympics for quite some time and by 1932 he was allowed to host an informal demonstration in Los Angeles, California. Finally after some negotiation Judo was first contested as an Olympic sport for men in the 1964 Games in Tokyo. The Olympic Committee initially dropped Judo for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, after a series of protests. By 1988 the first women's Judo demonstration was introduced in Seoul, and by 1992 in Barcelona it became an official medal event. The modern art of Judo has evolved considerably since Jigoro founded his Kodokan style, as many Martial Artists look to add the discipline to their already stacked repoutures.

THE RANKING SYSTEM IN BJJ AND JUDO

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has a comprehensive belt ranking system. Although there is no testing and being graded is all due to analysis from an instructor, it does take a significant amount of time to reach the black belt level. All adults will start from the white belt and will spend roughly two years at each belt level. Each student must earn 4 stripes on each belt by achieving criteria like; technical proficiency, technical knowledge, mat consistency, competitive ability and a respectful and humble attitude. The first promotion is to the blue belt level where training and competition gets harder. After blue is the purple belt, where students will begin to coach more regularly. Brown belt is next and that is for students who are exceptional and will most definitely move on to the final belt which is the black belt. There are also two coral belts but a student must spend 31 and 38 years as an active black belt to achieve this. The most unattainable belt is the red belt, which is basically reserved for the Gracie family and exceptional pioneers of the sport, this can only be achieved after 48 and 58 years as a black belt.

The ranking system within the art of Judo was relatively basic, and is called the kyu dan ranking system, which is displayed by the color of their belt. Years ago, beginning students would start off wearing a white belt, as they would progress through descending kyu ranks until they were deemed to have achieved a level of competence sufficient enough to be a dan grade. At this point they would wear the kuro obi which is the black belt. The ninth degree black belt kudan, and higher ranks, have no special requirements and are handed out by the president of the Kodokan. As Jigoro Kano was an educator by profession, he believed that there should be no end to a student's learning, and no limit to the amount of dan ranks one should be able to achieve. Only a small handful of Judoka have ever achieved this high rank in the art. Nowadays there is a more comprehensive belt ranking system that starts at the white belt level before moving through the yellow, orange, green, blue, brown, black, red/white and then red belts. This system of rank is similar to BJJ as it can take a long time for a student to reach the higher levels within the art.

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THE TRAINING REGIMES OF BJJ AND JUDO

Training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has become a mainstream passtime for a lot of Martial Artists, as the rise of Mixed Martial Arts has seen the need to add a grappling art to their arsenal. The rigorous training involved in BJJ has considerable benefits to the core strength of an athlete. BJJ has a complexity like no other Martial Arts, due to the infinite number of movements and counter movements attached. One of BJJ's biggest assets is its friendly and nurturing environment, which makes it an easy Martial Art to learn considering its complexity. The typical training session consists of a series of intense warmups that include core strengthening, high calibre fitness and functional movements that directly relate to BJJ maneuvers. Instructors will then teach two or three different techniques, which are then practised between groups of two. The lesson will then finish with free rolling, which is real situational sparring between members, this is a great way for practitioners to battle test their training.

Jigoro Kano had a vision for Judo, which consisted of being able to train in the art in a realistic practice. The main focus of Judo training was Randori, which was necessary to grasp the understanding of the core Judo principles. Atemi waza was the practice of striking an opponent, but it was deemed unsafe and only practised in katas. Kansetsu waza was the practise of joint manipulation techniques, which was limited to moves that focused on the elbow joint. Many throwing techniques, especially joint locking throws were also deemed to be unsafe to practise in full contact forms. To maximise the safety in nage waza students were required to train in ukemi which is the practise of break falls, which is a technically sound way to brace for impact on the mats. Training in Judo can be stressful to the body, which is why students must become experts in minimising impact and coordinating the correct technical procedures.

WHICH STYLE WOULD WIN A FIGHT BETWEEN JUDO AND BJJ

A matchup between BJJ and Judo would be an interesting contest, as both arts possess the skills to win. A Judoka would have an upper hand in the stand up game, as they possess the skills to use deadly force within their throwing techniques. The problem that a Judoka may face is that a lot of throwing techniques gives a BJJ practitioner access to their back.

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In BJJ one of the strongest positions is taking an opponent's back which makes fighting a BJJ practitioner a risky proposition for a Judoka. Even if a Judoka manages to take a BJJ practitioner to the ground, this is where BJJ excels. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighters are specialists in the technical ground aspect of escaping positions, controlling opponents and transitioning into submission attacks. A Judoka is basically one dimensional in comparison to a BJJ practitioner, so Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has this fight well under control.

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