Never one to shy away from controversy, Keenan Cornelius recently discussed the history of Jiu-Jitsu in the United States and his reasons for using the term “American Jiu-Jitsu” instead of “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu”.
In the first episode of his Dojo Storm podcast, Cornelius explored the roots of Jiu-Jitsu and its introduction to the Western world.
He explained that Mitsuyo Maeda, the Japanese judoka credited with teaching Jiu-Jitsu to the Gracie family, first came to the United States before traveling to Brazil.
According to Cornelius, this is where Jiu-Jitsu initially gained traction in the West:
[Maeda] went to America, 1904, and he introduced Teddy Roosevelt, the f*cking president of the United States to Jiu-Jitsu.
Theodore Roosevelt has many quotes about how Jiu-Jitsu is so awesome.The entire American police force was being taught American Jiu-Jitsu through Maeda and [his student] Yamashita, and all of their students that they trained in America.
Cornelius further elaborated that while Jiu-Jitsu was gaining popularity in America, other grappling arts, such as catch wrestling, were also prominent.
Both catch wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu borrowed techniques from each other, contributing to the development of grappling arts in the USA:
So, there was all sorts of fights between the judo guys, the Jiu-Jitsu guys, the catch wrestlers.
What ended up happening was a melding of the techniques.
Catch wrestling kinda became the American version of Jiu-jitsu, but they still called it Jiu-Jitsu.
However, the rise of Jiu-Jitsu in America was halted by the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 – which led to widespread anti-Japanese sentiment during World War 2:
All of their cultural impact that had made so much ground was basically erased because of the propaganda of the state.
They feminized it.
They were like: “Oh, it’s for girls. Jiu-Jitsu is for women.”
Despite the setback in the USA, Cornelius acknowledged the Gracie family’s role in expanding Jiu-Jitsu globally, particularly in Brazil, where the art flourished.
However, he stood by his belief that American Jiu-Jitsu predated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu:
I’m not saying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu doesn’t exist. It does.
I’m just saying American Jiu-Jitsu did exist.Literally, it’s there, the word American Jiu-Jitsu, all throughout 30 years from 1900 to 1930s…
You can no longer claim as a marketing tactic that Brazilians are the originators of Jiu-Jitsu as it is today.
Sloth Jiu-Jitsu: you can be slow and unathletic and still kick butt in Jiu-Jitsu.
