Mitsuyo Maeda, the Japanese Judo legend that conquered Brazil

Born in Japan in 1878, Mitsuyo Maeda was one of the first and most prodigious students at Tokyo’s Kodokan Institute, the first school in the world to teach judo techniques. As a teenager he practiced sumo, but he lacked the size to fit into the sport.

At that stage of his life another discipline stole his attention; due to the interest generated by the stories about judo’s dominance in competitions between judo and jujitsu that were occurring at the time, he was moved to make the change from sumo to judo.

Maeda was described as an unusual fighter and his physique was not imposing.

His 1.64 m height and 64 kilograms did not prevent Jigoro Kano, creator of this fighting style, from visualizing Maeda’s skills and for his training he is assigned to Tsunejiro Tomita (4th dan) as his trainer and who was also the physically smallest of the masters of those years. Master Kano‘s intention was to show that size in judo is not the most important thing.

It was in 1904 that Mitsuyo Maeda’s journey began by moving to the United States as an assistant and exhibition partner of his master Tomita. Maeda, was at that time 26 years old and already a brilliant 4 degree dan and professor of the Kodokan. On those trips, they were also accompanied by Satake Soshihiro, where he intended to promote the discipline.

Between 1904 and 1915 they visited several countries, both in the Americas and Europe, where in Spain he was nick named Count Koma as an easier way to refer to him. Their stay in the American continents however were longer. He also had a long stint in Cuba.

In November 1914, he arrived in Brazil for the first time and in 1915 visited Bethlehem of Para and Manaus, in the north. In 1917 he made his second trip to Brazil where he met Gastao Gracie, father of Carlos and Helio Gracie, who are recognized as the creators of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. That year Maeda settled in Brazil, becoming a teacher to the Gracie family, considered the fathers of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in martial arts and MMA.

Maeda not only taught Carlos Gracie, patriarch of Gracie Jiu Jitsu, the discipline, he also passed the philosophy of combat by dividing it into stages, such as hitting, flooring, fighting, among others.

The great work of Mitsuyo Maeda and Satake Soshihiro during the rise of judo around the world, but specifically in Brazil, gave them to be considered the pioneers of judo in the of the Carioca.

The transcendence of Maeda’s acts went beyond the spectacle generated by judo, since in 1921 he founded his own academy in Belem, Brazil, becoming nationalized and adopting the name of Otávio Maeda.

“Count Koma” managed to be an extraordinary fighter since he was rarely defeated. His mission in the spread of judo around the world allowed him to be recognized with the 7th dan after his death. His legacy as an Asian-Latino pioneering athlete is recognized and celebrated during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage.