37 Facts About Mitsuyo Maeda

Mitsuyo Maeda was known as Count Combat or Conde Koma in Spanish and Portuguese, a nickname he picked up in Spain in 1908.

Mitsuyo Maeda was a promoter of Japanese emigration to Brazil.

Mitsuyo Maeda's accomplishments led to him being called the "toughest man who ever lived" and being referred to as the father of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.

Mitsuyo Maeda was born in Funazawa Village, Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture, Japan, on November 18,1878.

Mitsuyo Maeda attended Kenritsu Itiu high school.

Mitsuyo Maeda practiced sumo as a teenager, but lacked the ideal build for the sport.

Mitsuyo Maeda joined the Kodokan Judo Institute the following year.

Mitsuyo Maeda was spotted by judo's founder Kano Jigoro, and assigned to Tsunejiro Tomita, the smallest of the teachers of the Kodokan's "Four Heavenly Kings", to illustrate that in judo size is not important.

Satake would later travel to South America with Mitsuyo Maeda and settle in Manaus, Amazonas State, while Mitsuyo Maeda continued traveling.

Mifune states that Mitsuyo Maeda was one of the most vigorous promoters of judo, although not by teaching the art, instead generating recognition of judo through his many combats with contenders from other disciplines.

Mitsuyo Maeda treated experienced and inexperienced students alike, throwing them as if in real combat.

Mitsuyo Maeda reasoned that this behavior was a measure of respect towards his students, but it was often misunderstood and frightened many youngsters, who would abandon him in favor of other professors.

Early in 1905, Tomita and Mitsuyo Maeda gave several public demonstrations of judo.

At the request of the crowd, Mitsuyo Maeda wrestled a cadet and threw him easily.

On July 6,1905, Tomita and Mitsuyo Maeda gave a judo exhibition at the YMCA in Newport, Rhode Island.

On November 6,1905, Mitsuyo Maeda was reported visiting professional wrestler Akitaro Ono in Asheville, North Carolina; after this, Mitsuyo Maeda was no longer routinely associated with Tomita in the US newspapers.

On December 18,1905, Mitsuyo Maeda was in Atlanta, Georgia for a professional wrestling match with Sam Marburger.

The contest was best of three, two falls with jackets and one without, and Mitsuyo Maeda won the two with jackets and lost the one without.

On July 23,1909, Mitsuyo Maeda left Havana for Mexico City.

Mitsuyo Maeda's standing offer was 100 pesos to anyone he could not throw, and 500 pesos to anyone who could throw him.

In January 1910, Mitsuyo Maeda took part in a wrestling tournament in Mexico City.

Mitsuyo Maeda had been the hero all week, but as soon as he was beaten the fans, true to form, called him a bum.

In July 1910, Mitsuyo Maeda returned to Cuba, where he tried to arrange matches with Frank Gotch and Jack Johnson.

In El Salvador, the president was assassinated while Mitsuyo Maeda was there, and in Panama, the Americans tried to pay him to lose; in response, they kept moving south.

On December 24,1915, Mitsuyo Maeda defeated in seconds the boxer Barbadiano Adolpho Corbiniano, who became one of his disciples.

On January 3,1916, at Theatro Politheama, Mitsuyo Maeda finally fought Nagib Assef, who was thrown off the stage and pinned into submission by arm-lock.

Mitsuyo Maeda was still popular in Brazil, and recognized as a great fighter, although he only fought sporadically after his return.

Mitsuyo Maeda allowed Pe de Bola to use a knife in the fight.

In 1921, Mitsuyo Maeda founded his first judo academy in Brazil.

At some point in this trip, Mitsuyo Maeda was joined by his wife.

In Havana, Satake and Mitsuyo Maeda took part in some contests.

Mitsuyo Maeda defeated a Cuban boxer called Jose Ibarra, and a French wrestler called Fournier.

In 1925, Mitsuyo Maeda became involved with helping settle Japanese immigrants near Tome-acu, a Japanese-owned company town in Para, Brazil.

Mitsuyo Maeda continued teaching judo, now mostly to the children of Japanese immigrants.

Mitsuyo Maeda never knew of this final promotion, because he died in Belem on November 28,1941.

In May 1956, a memorial to Mitsuyo Maeda was erected in Hirosaki City, Japan.

Mitsuyo Maeda accepted Gracie and Luiz Franca as students, and the youth became a great exponent of the art and ultimately, with his younger brother Helio Gracie, founded Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, modern Brazilian jiu-jitsu.