Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil 1856-1949 (Volume 1) (38 page)

The Gracie’s next Japanese rival was the real deal. He was Yassuiti Ono, a 5-
dan
Kodokan jiu-jitsuka (or judoka, as he later insisted).
35

A match was arranged between Heliio Gracie and Ono, for Thursday Decmeber 5, 1935. Ono was training with Geo Omori, Takeo Yano, and others in
São Paulo. Helio was training at Paty de Alferes (a resort town about 120 kilometers from Rio).

Like Omori, Ono didn’t have a lot to say about the fight. Helio did his part to
stimulate interest, visiting newspaper offices with his brother Carlos, to inform the editors that “unlike other Japanese, Ono talks too much”.
36

The match was described as pitting the “violence” of Ono against the “technique” of Helio. Ono’s style was described as “aggressive”.
37
Helio’s supporters had confidence in the national representative. At least, they placed their bets as though they expected him to survive. Ono’s supporters were equally confident.
38

The fight took place on Thursday December 5, at Stadium Brasil.

When the fight began, Ono wasted no time attacking Helio and immediately put Helio in danger with an armlock attempt. Helio escaped with difficulty [
desvencilhou-se com difficuldade
].

From the start Ono was the master of the situation, throwing Helio in 32 of 55 attempts, dominating and keeping him on defense. At the end of the
fourth round Helio was able to attempt his first and only attack. It failed. The final round resumed with Ono dominating Helio.

One reporter commented that while Helio demonstrated skill at defense, a teacher of jiu-jitsu should also know how to attack, as students would want to learn those skills also [
professor deve sabe atacar e defender com a mesma precisão
]. A fighter who enters to ring with the titles of “professor” and “
invicto
” [undefeated] has an obligation to take the initiative in a fight and not wait while the opponent repeatedly throws him, supposedly to prove that he knows how to defend himself on the ground. That left serious doubts about his ability to defend himself standing up.

It would be difficult, using Helio’s method, to defeat fighters like Ono and Yano, the writer concluded, correctly, as it turned out.
39

The official result was a draw [
empate
]. Helio Gracie’s defensive skills saved him to fight another day. His brother Carlos was suspended by the City Boxing Commission [
Commissão Municipal de Pugilismo
] for 90 days for entering the ring during the fight.
40
It was not the first or last time Carlos Gracie would collide with the authorities.

Helio remained undefeated. Some people were less than impressed. Ono was one. Like many others, Ono thought that George was a better fighter, even if he sometimes lost, because he attacked and that is what fighters are supposed to do. A strong defense is a good thing to have, but you can’t win fights with defense alone. Fans are not going to buy tickets to see someone’s defense.

Carlos understood that well. It was indeed a problem. His solution was to recruit big strong guys to represent his academy in luta livre and pro-wrestling matches. He called them “jiu-jitsu” students but how much jiu-jitsu they knew or applied in their matches was questionable, or at least, not often in evidence.

Actually, that was only one of Carlos Gracie’s solutions. He had another, which involved offering direct access to God, though he didn’t call it that. In Carlos’ vocabulary, it was “a spiritual entity” [
entidade espiritual
], named Egidio Lasvojinho. It would not be exaggerating to say that Egidio Lasvojinho funded not only his various jiu-jitsu activities, but, eventually, Carlos Gracie’s entire dynasty of wives, under-age girlfriends, and 21 children, and paid for lawyers to keep him out of prison (or to get him out as soon as possible). Not much of this was publically known at the time, however, and for good reason.
41
Carlos Gracie’s belief system might have been ridiculed by many cosmpolitian, well-educated Brazilians (but certainly not all). The problem was that it clashed with his dedication to jiu-jitsu with its scientific principles and emphasis on morality.

The Secret

Occultism was not much out of the ordinary in Brazil, including the sophisticated capital city of Rio, during the 1930’s. Cults and esoteric associations flourished. Brazil was officially a Catholic country but its version of Catholicism was pre-counter-reformation and highly mixed with African and indigenous religions and belief systems.
42
Newspapers regularly ran ads offering occult services of various sorts. The following ad, running continuously in almost every major periodical in the country, from 1933 to at least 1938, was typical:

"Do you want to always win the lottery? With the date of any person's birth, I can teach you how to win the lottery without ever losing even once. Send 600 reis in stamps and I will send a free copy of the book
O Seguro da Fortuna
. Thousands of people will attest to the truth of what I say.”

In the upper left hand corner was a cartoon drawing of a man wearing a turban, presumably the author of
O Seguro da Fortuna,
Pakchang Tong.
43

Carlos Gracie had grown up with anti-Catholic and anti-organized religion attitudes. He began his career as an alternative spiritual guru by attending a meeting of an already established group. He then decided that he preferred to lead his own group. He wouldn’t have liked calling it a religion. He was simply providing access to the higher entity, who would in turn offer advice about toothpaste and real estate investments, among many other things both mundane and cosmic.
44

George Gracie had a less lucrative, if more honorable solution. It was one that almost every other “name” fighter of the period adapted as well, with the sole exception of Helio Gracie. It essentially consisted of tweaking fights to make them more interesting to fans. Tweaking could range from “carrying” an opponent, letting him last longer than he could on his own merits, or not finishing him off, pretending to be in danger, all the way to deliberately losing. George did all of the above.

Bello Horizonte

In December of 193
5, George Gracie transferred his base of operations to Bello Horizonte. On December 7, it was announced that he would face Eberle of Germany that same day.
45
Most likely it was a luta livre match, as jiu-jitsu opponents were in short supply. The result, if it took place, was not reported, and Eberle was not heard from again. In that sense, it was a typical George Gracie fight. When he needed quick cash, which was often, according to his wife Angelina, George arranged a fight, wherever he happened to be at the time.
46
Accordingly, many of them probably came and went without leaving a trace, or not much more than the sort of brief news notice described above.

On December 20, it was reported that George would be teaching jiu-jitsu at Academia Loanzi, in Be
llo Horizonte.
47
Reasons for the move from Rio were not explained. According to Angelina, George simply moved whenever he exhausted the possibilities of any given location.
48
In any case, Belo Horizonte was not so distant from the Rio that he couldn’t appear in Carioca rings when matches could be arranged. Moreover, Bello Horizonte was becoming an attractive place to promote fights.

In the last major clash between jiu-jitsu aces of 1935, Geo Omori was scheduled to take on his friend Takeo Yano in the semi-final of the Pedro Brasil versus Manoel Grillo catch match, fought according to the rules of the state of New York, on Saturday December 21.
49
Like Brasil versus Grillo, the Yano versus Omori match was a “luta de catch.” The winner of Yano versus Omori would challenge the winner of Brasil versus Grillo. The result of the match, if it happened, is unknown. If it did, it probably closely resembled the demonstration they gave Tuesday June 9 at the Club de Regatas do Flamengo.
50

Omori’s career was winding down. Yano’s was just beginning
.

.
Chapter 15 Notes

Chapter 16

1936

Jiu-jitsu
was being disseminated throughout the land. It wasn’t entirely intentional. George Gracie was restless. He liked to move. Where George went, jiu-jitsu went. In January 1936 he was offered a contract to teach the Guard Civil in Bello Horizonte. He accepted and relocated there.
1

On April 2, George engaged in two luta livre matches at the Academia Loanzi in Bello Horizonte. He defeated Barthowiak (German, 98 kilos) with a carotid compression [“
compresseão carotideana
”], and Eberle also German (weight illegible) with a Japanese neck-tie [“
gravata japoneza
”]. It took George, who weighed 70 kilos, a total of 12 minutes to dispose of both of the German giants. Most likely, given the circumstances, these were sparring sessions, but were described in the one newspaper that mentioned the incident as “a sensational fight of George Gracie”.
2

Jose Detti was already a known name in
São Paulo. He was the Arab jiu-jitsu champion of São Paulo who had fought Geo Omori twice, losing once and drawing once.
3
Due to his size (85-95 kilos), Detti went by the nickname of “The Mastodon.” He met Bergomas, the Italian catch champion, on April 4 at Casino Antarctica on rua Anhangabahu in São Paulo. It was a preliminary to the Roberto Ruhmann versus Adelberto Trenka fight.
4

The first publicized jiu-jitsu (or
lucta japoneza
) match of 1936 took place April 18 at Casino Antarctica as a preliminary (or semi-final) to the 16 Roberto Ruhmann versus Ivanoff luta livre match. The jiu-jitsu competitors were Jose Detti, weighing 85 kilos, and the
minisculo
[tiny] Francisco Ioshika of Japan, weighing 65 kilos.

Detti defeated Iosika in the
third round.
5
Ruhmann won his match as well, with a second round choke [
com terrivel golpe de estrangulamento
].
6
Ruhmann was famous for his chokes. It was rumored that no man could survive once Ruhmann got his hands around his neck.

In May, Empresa Pugilisitca Brasilera (EPB) announced its line-up of fighters for the 1936 season. All were boxers and “catchers”
. But EPB was also considering offering contracts to four jiu-jitsu fighters. They were George and Helio Gracie, Yassuiti Ono, and Takeo Yano.
7

As in a
Hollywood movie studio, a contract guaranteed a performer a certain number of projects, at a certain fee, for a specified period. The performer didn’t necessarily have to accept a given a project, but he wouldn’t be paid if he didn’t. Management and labor had overlapping but not identical interests. The overriding concern shared by both sides was making money. Management and labor sometimes disagreed about how to go about doing it. As far as management was concerned, performers were in one sense unique, but in another sense “fungible” (that is, functionally equivalent to any other star who could draw an equal number of people to the theater).

The performer had a different point of view. One or two sub-par performances could end a career, or at least substantially reduce one’s fees. Moreover, for those operating schools, their brand was important. And for some, but not all, winning or losing was a matter of pride.

The point is, by 1936, the majority of professional fighters worked under contract, and most were either boxers or catch wrestlers. Jiu-jitsu fighters were largely an after-thought.

Luta
Livre com Kimono

Estevan Jirkus
8
challenged both Ruhmann and Detti. Ruhmann didn’t reply, but Detti immediately accepted.

Jirkus was 25 years old, from
Lithuania, stood 192 cm., and weighed between 118 and 128 kilos, depending on the source. He was exceptionally strong [
dotado de physico excepcional…extraordinaria força muscular
]. Detti had gained 10 kilos since April, if reports were accurate.
9

The fight was eight rounds of 5 minutes, with one minute breaks between rounds. It was either a
“
luta livre com kimono
” (luta livre with gi) or catch as-catch-can match, depending on the source. It was scheduled for Saturday May 23, 1936 at Casino Antarctica.
10

Roberto Ruhman, already famous as a strongman and pro-wrestler, had been learning jiu-jitsu. He wanted to convince the public of his capacity as a jiu-jitsu player [
jogador de jiu-jitsu
]. Ruhmann believed that his new knowledge of the Japanese sport combined with his prodigious muscle power, qualified him to face a top opponent [
um adversario de classe
] and even defeat the best rivals [
melhores rivaes
]. George Gracie, with the proverbial valor for which he was famous [
valentia proverbial que o fez famoso
] fit the bill. George was known for never refusing a fight. Their fight was first set for June 13 and then postponed to September 5. They were both undefeated [
dois invictos do jiu-jitsu
] and would try to remain that way.
11

At the end of May, EPB revealed
more specific information about the fighters, both foreign and Brazilian, contracted for the upcoming “season” [
temporada
]. There were boxers, catchers, and jiu-jitsu men.

The foreign boxers were Francisco Magnelli, Jorge Azar, Amado Azar, Schiaraffia, Antonio Rodrigues, and Annibal Prior. With the probable exception of Al Pereira, “catchers” would be announced later. National fighters (or already living in
Brazil) included luta livre men Roberto Ruhmann and Dudú, and boxers Jack Tigre, Virgolino, and Loffredo. The jiu-jitsu men were Brazilians George and Helio Gracie, and the Japanese Takeo Yano and Yassuiti Ono.
12

Kodokan Jiu-Jitsu versus Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Helio Gracie was being described as the top jiu-jitsu fighter in Brazil. He had beaten a lightly regarded Miyaki and managed to survive against Takashi Namiki and Yassuiti Ono. Against Ono especially, that was testimony to Helio’s defense on the ground (while being an indictment of his lack of defense on stand-up). But to claim to be the best, something more than mere defense was needed. Takeo Yano was still looking to make a name for himself. He was still undefeated after his fight with George in 1935. He had thrown George at will, but couldn’t subdue him on the ground. Helio thought he could do better than his older brother did against Yano.

Carlos Gracie promised that his brother Helio would defeat Yano in the first round [“
Helio vencerá Yano no 1 round
”]. George came all the way from Bello Horizonte to serve as Helio’s sparring partner [
Helio treinando com Jorge que veiu especialmente de Bello Horizonte para server com seus sparrings
]. Rio would be witness to a great jiu-jitsu match [
O Rio assistirá a maior peleja de jiu-jitsu
].
13

On the day of the fight, Helio predicted that Yano would be defeated but stopped short of naming a round [“
Yano será vencido
“].
14

Yano’s manager, Macedo Soares (who also managed Yassuiti Ono), quaranteed that Yano was in condition to beat Helio Gracie. Yano and Soares emphasized that Yano had trained especially for this fight, because he recongizied the Helio was a worthy foe [“
um adversario, sob todos os pontos, digno e respeito
”]. But Yano was confident. Without exaggeration he considered himself to be in exceptional condition and for this reason vowed to beat Helio [“
em condicões excepcionaes e por isto affirma que vae derrotar Helio Gracie
“]. Yano was training with Yassuiti Ono, and both men appeared to be in magnificent form.
15

The fight took place at Estadio Brasil. It was three rounds of 20 minutes each. Helio Gracie weighed 65.7 kilos, Yano weighed 69.3 kilos. Helio was the Brazilian champion [
campeão brasileiro
], Yano was an authentic black belt [
authentico faixa negra
]. The referee was Gumercindo Taboada. The preliminaries consisted of seven boxing matches. The first four were amateur fights, disputed for places on the Brazilian Olympic team.

The boxing contests were magnificent and pleased the crowd [
essas pelejas agradaram
]. Three were professional boxing bouts, the best being a six-round middleweight bout between Gonçalves da Cunha of Portugal and Schmelling of Germany, which ended in a draw.

The much anticipated jiu-jitsu match however, was a let-down [
não satifez á expectiva geral
]. It was expected that the two jiu-jitsu professionals would demonstrate their skills and provide the public with an exciting contest.

Nothing of the sort happened. The fight was monotonous, devoid of the slightest interest. It was a charade that disappointed everyone who came in search of excitement.
The result was a draw [
empate
].
16

Diario de Noticias
’ report was shorter and less critical, but made the same point: Yano dominated Helio on stand-up, and played defense on the ground, effectively impeding Helio’s attack in the process. The result was a boring fight [
O assalto inicial foi bastante movimentado, tendo o japonez levado vantagem nas quedas
]. The first round was active. Yano had the advantage in take-downs. The second round was monotonous. Helio attempted only one technique [
golpe
] which Yano escaped masterfully. The last round was no more active than the others [
pouco animado
]. Yano stayed on defense and Helio couldn’t do anything [
O japonez permaneceu a defensiva e Helio nada pôde fazer
]. Yano threw Helio six times, but was excessively cautious [
demasiado cauteloso
].
17

The
Gazeta de Noticias
report differed only in minor details. The reporter saw Helio attempt two chokes in the second round, both easily nullified by Yano. The last round continued with the same monotony as the preceding rounds [
com a mesmo monotonia do inicio a peleza
]. The result was a draw. The reporter opined that “a sport as boring as this can not please the public” [“
O sport e muito monotono e por isso meso não e do agrado da assistencia”
].
18

One writer
blamed Yano for the fiasco. It seemed that Yano didn’t take the fight seriously enough [
Yano, ao que parece, não subiu ao ring com a dispocição necessaria para uma luta de responsibilidade
]. His fighting spirit left much to be desired [
seu ardor agrressivo deixou muito de desejar
]. The writer was at a loss to understand why Yano did not try to take advantage of his opportunities on the ground. Yano instead avoided coming to grips with Helio Gracie [
permanecendo afastado de seu contendor
]. Yano’s inexplicable tactic [
essa tactica exquesita
] turned what might have been an exciting fight into a boring and monotonous undertaking. The writer had no doubt that Yano’s tactic was motivated by his fear that Helio might apply a decisive technique, such as a choke.
19

Yano’s approach to the fight was the same as Ebert’s and Zbyzsko’s. They did not feel comfortable on the ground and simply opted to survive by doing nothing that might open them up to unexpected dangers. No doubt such a fight would be boring for the fans. But Yano’s job was to win or at least not lose. It is precisely what Helio Gracie did when he was in with an opponent who didn’t want to play his game. With Yano, Helio knew that he wasn’t going to be able to
advance his attack on the ground. He had the choice of standing up again. He could then have thrown Yano and landed in a dominating position. That is, he could have if he had the throwing skills. Since he didn’t, it was almost unavoidable that the fight would play out exactly as it did.

Helio wanted Yano to fight on the ground. Yano very rationally didn’t want to.
He had a large edge on stand-up, and no edge on the ground. It would make no sense for him to voluntarily forfeit his advantage and clash directly in the aspect of the game where Helio had a relative advantage. That is not what jiu-jitsu is about and is a self-handicapping strategy in any conflict situation. Helio lacked the technical resources to make him, or the cleverness to bait him into making a mistake. Conversely, Yano couldn’t force Helio to fight the entire match standing up.

It was problem in almost every professional jiu-jitsu match. It would have been unrealistic to expect the Kodokan people to willingly give up what was a huge advantage. The
national (Brazilian) jiu-jitsu representatives (mostly Gracies) didn’t want to invest in developing higher level stand-up skills but couldn’t force anyone to fight on the ground if they didn’t want to. Obviously, unskilled opponents had little choice, and this may have been one reason why most of them were middle-aged former pro wrestlers and capoeiras of questionable qualifications.

In sum, jiu-jitsu fights between jiu-jitsu fighters tended to be boring from the fans
’ point of view. No one ever really came up with a viable solution to this problem, other than the obvious ones of selecting opponents who couldn’t fight and choreographing the fights. Yano was foremost among those who adopted the later solution. Helio’s brother George often collaborated with him in doing so, as did Oswaldo. Helio never did. But that may be why Helio retired from fighting in 1937 while George kept fighting as long as anyone was willing to pay him.
20