‘The great split’, it was not a cataclysmic event but a slow gradual ‘growing apart’. The two brothers Helio and Carlos Snr, despite having some minor differences, worked symbiotically in developing and promoting the art. Helio was focused more on the development and preservation of the original fighting art whilst Carlos Snr was focused on the development of the sporting side of Jiu Jitsu and developing it as a business. Arguably Jiu Jitsu wouldn’t be where it is today if it wasn’t for both sides of the martial art. We look at the 3 branches that have emerged, and consider the future.

When you ask almost anyone in the modern Jiu Jitsu community what the origins of Jiu Jitsu are, most will say that it was adapted in Brazil by firstly Carlos and Helio Gracie and then their brothers and eventually a large percentage of their offspring. And that Carlos had learned from Mitsuyo Maeda (Konde Koma), with whom he trained for two years whilst he was visiting Brazil in 1914 during his world tour promoting Judo outside of Japan. Some will even mention that Mitsuyo Maeda was a student in Japan of Jigoro Kano, a master of Ju-Jutsu and credited with creating Judo as we know it today… But few will delve further.