We here at Black Market Jiu-Jitsu are EXTREMELY excited to announce our latest evolution: Black Market Kimonos!

Black Market Kimonos was created with one simple mission: to provide the best lightweight, travel-friendly BJJ kimono the world has ever seen. 
 
Jiujiteiros know: BJJ is much more than just the world's most effective martial art. It is also an international community of fellow practitioners: an interconnected network of dojos, gyms, and matted garages where cops and criminals, beatniks and business people, sinners and saints, rich and poor don the kimono and meet as equals. As far as we at Black Market Kimonos are concerned, getting out into that big, beautiful world and connecting with our BJJ brothers and sisters is what living the good life is all about. Our lightweight, packable, fast-drying and stylish Black Market Kimonos are designed to be the ultimate travel companion on the journey. 
 
Black Market Kimonos' first drop - the Classic White - will be available in the early spring of 2023. Featuring 100% 10oz ripstop cotton construction, minimal branding, and a clean, classic look, the BMK Classic White is the perfect lightweight, fast-drying, packable kimono for your next BJJ adventure. Cruise over to www.BlackMarketKimonos.com where you can sign up for the BMK mailing list and stay up-to-date on all the latest, as the launch date approaches! See you there! 

If you know us then you know we're all about BJJ history and showing respect to the pioneers of the art that we love so well! That's why we were SUPER excited about the publication of Richard Bresler's memoir Worth Defending: How Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Saved My Life. As you may know, Richard was Rorion Gracie's first regular student in LA, and is widely recognized as the first student of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in the USA. His memoir chronicles his over 40 years' involvement with the Gracie family and Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, including the almost twenty years he spent working closely alongside Rorion Gracie helping to grow Jiu-Jitsu through the Gracie Garages, the founding of the Gracie Academy, and the creation and inception of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Worth Defending includes never-before-told stories from the early "dojo storming" and "challenge match" days at the first Gracie Garage—in the house that Richard and Rorion shared in Hermosa Beach—the Gracie Academy, backstage at the first UFCs, and much, much more. Read the story of the birth of modern MMA from someone who was there every step of the way! INCREDIBLE story and a FANTASTIC read, and we're very happy to help spread the word here! 

Check out the book at www.WorthDefendingBook.com! 

On October 1 we celebrate the life of Grandmaster Helio Gracie, born this day in 1913. As our way of saying "Happy Birthday!" to the founder of the art we love so well, we're offering FREE SHIPPING on ANY DESIGN all month long. Just use coupon code HELIO105 during checkout to receive the discount! 

精力善用 - Seiryoku-Zenyo, "Best use of one's energies / maximum efficiency, minimum effort"
柔術 - Jiu-Jitsu, "Gentle art"
柔道 - Judo, "Gentle way" 

"Seiryoku-Zenyo (maximum efficient use of energy) applies to all types of endeavours, and it is to fully utilise one's spiritual and physical energies to realise an intended purpose.

Seiryoku-Zenyo is the most effective use of the power of the mind and body. In the case of Judo, this is the principle upon which attack and defence are based, and what guides the process of teaching as well. Simply, the most effective use of mind and body may be described as the maximum efficient utilisation of energy. In summary, this can be described as "maximum efficiency".

This idea of the best use of energy is one of the central tenets in Judo, but it is also important for achieving various aims in one's life.

This concept of the best use of energy is the fundamental teaching of Judo. In other words, it is most effectively using one's energy for a good purpose. So, what is 'good'? Assisting in the continued development of one's community can be classified as good, but counteracting such advancement is bad... Ongoing advancement of community and society is achieved through the concepts of 'Sojo-Sojo' (help one another; yield to one another) or 'Jita-Kyoei' (mutual benefit). In this sense, Sojo-Sojo and Jita-Kyoei are also part of the greater good. This is the fundamental wisdom of Judo.

Kata and Randori are possible when this fundamental wisdom is applied to techniques of attack and defence. If directed at improving the body, it becomes a form of physical education; if applied to gaining knowledge, it will become a method of self-improvement; and, if applied to many things in society such as the necessities of life, social interaction, one's duties, and administration, it becomes a way of life...

In this way, Judo today is not simply the practice of fighting in a dojo, but rather it is appropriately recognised as a guiding principle in the myriad facets of human society. The practice of Kata and Randori in the dojo, is no more than the application of Judo principles to combat and physical training... From the study of traditional Jujutsu Kata and Randori, I came to the realisation of this greater meaning. Accordingly, the process of teaching also follows the same path. Furthermore, I recognised the value of teaching Kata and Randori to many people as a fighting art and as a form of physical training. This not only serves the aims of the individual, but by mastery of the fundamental wisdom of Judo, and in turn applying it to many pursuits in life, all people will be able to live their lives in a judicious manner.

This is how one should undertake the study of Judo that I founded. However, in actuality there are many people throughout the world living their lives on the basis of Judo principles without knowing that this is the real essence of Judo. If the Judo that I espouse is propagated to society at large, the actions people undertake will become Judo without even thinking about it. I believe that if more people gain an understanding of the guiding principles of Judo, this philosophy will also help guide their lives. Thus, I implore you all to make great efforts, and initiate this trend in society."

- Master Jigoro Kano, from The Best Use of One's Energy (1922) and JuJutsu and Judo, Recognising the Distinction of Judo (1936)

Know the philosophy. Live the principle. ​Get the teeshirt here. 

From BJJHeroes.com:

...One of luta livre’s golden boys, Marco Ruas started being mentioned as a candidate to fight jiu jitsu’s champion, Rickson Gracie in the near future. Rickson had decided at this point that he was moving to the United States, and he did not want to leave Rio de Janeiro with this shadow on his back. He decided to go to the gym were Ruas trained to make the challenge official, and possibly fight there and then.

Rickson arrived at the gym while a packed night class was taking place, accompanied by his father, Helio Gracie, and his friends Sergio ‘Malibu’ and Marcelo Behring. There he met with Ruas and his coaches challenging the up and coming fighter to a closed door bout, something very common during those days. Ruas stepped back and asked for a 4 month period to prepare for the fight, Rickson did not accept, he wanted to fight sooner than that as he had plans to move out of Brazil. The discussion got heated up and at a certain point Helio said “Maybe we should make a list of people who want to fight Rickson”, Hugo Duarte, who was one of the main luta livre competitors heard the jiu jitsu master’s comment and said “you can put my name on that list”.

The gracie convoy left without the fight they wanted, but Hugo Duarte’s challenge made it to the streets. The street gossip urged Rickson Gracie to take a stand, much like he had done when the same happened with Ruas, previously. This time Rickson wouldn’t make the same mistake as before and give the challenger a chance to pull out. Duarte was a regular visitor of the Praia do Pepê (Pepe Beach), so Rickson planned to confront the luta livre man in public so there would be no back pedaling. A couple of weeks later, Hugo was met and challenged at the beach, on a Saturday morning. People gathered around in a circle while the two fighters scrapped.  A camera was brought in to film the fight and handed to the late Ryan Gracie. Ryan was 12 years old at the time and could not cut through the crowd of grown ups to film the fight, thus the poor quality of the video (below) and the cussing of the young Gracie all throughout the footage. After a few minutes of fighting Hugo Duarte gave up due to strikes from the mount.

Afterwards, as the two fighters went to the water to clean up their wounds, Hugo told Rickson he was not happy with the result, this feeling would lead to the events that followed...

Read the full account of the long-standing rivalry at BJJHeroes.com!

Know your roots! Rep the history! Get the teeshirt here. 

Do you remember the game "Telephone"? You and the other kids would sit in a circle, one kid would whisper a phrase into another kid's ear, the phrase would pass around the circle from kid to kid until it got back to its source, and you and the other kids would laugh at the mangled nonsense that the original phrases had become in transit.

Martial arts is like that. A teacher teachers based on his or her understanding, and a student learns based on theirs. In this way, even a simple technique can get garbled. And when it comes to Jiu-Jitsu - in which the difference between the version of a technique that works against someone my size or smaller and the version that works against someone much bigger than me can  be very subtle - the problem is even more pronounced. Add in outside pressures jockeying for attention - the need to win within the limited rulesets of modern competition, the need to create an "exciting" style to appeal to MMA spectators - and the mutation of the original technique is almost assured.

These are strange times for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The proliferation of the sport means a veritable army of blue and while belts crowding the scene, but the relatively thin distribution of qualified instructors means that many of these are left to fend for themselves, learning from videos and seminars and otherwise figuring  out on their own (I, admittedly, was one of these). This, combined with the "put up or shut up" attitude of wrestling and MMA that has permeated some segments of the culture, has produced a potentially toxic skepticism. White and blue belts I've met think nothing of openly questioning the validity of the techniques shown to them at seminars, or when visiting another's gym.

I in no way endorse the kind of wholesale "follower" mindset that created and defined the culture of martial arts before MMA. Skepticism can be good and healthy, and no instructor should think of himself as being above the questions that such skepticism produces. To do so invariably leads to self-delusion. But this humility must not mean an inversion of the dynamic, in which the teacher answers to the student more than the student answers to the teacher! The dojo culture is healthiest when the student carries the attitude of the student, and the baseline assumption that the teacher knows more and better than him or her about the subject at hand. If he or she does not, he or she should not be in class, because why would you go to a school that has nothing to teach you? 

Today I look online and I see white and blue belt openly expressing dissatisfaction with a given technique or position shown by Master Rickson or Master Helio. Nowhere in their attitude is the assumption that any concern they have about the technique is the result of their own imperfect understanding. Everywhere I read comments from people eager to talk about what they know, give their own answers, express their own style, have their own highlight reel on YouTube, have their own name above a school door.

A master who wants you to call him master for his sake is not your master; a master who is a master because of his knowledge is. You have limited time on this earth, and the more of it that you spend listening to yourself talk the less time you spend learning from those who really know something.

Stick close to the source, and try to understand.  

Commit to the journey. Represent the art. Get the teeshirt here. 

Mitsuyo Maede learned Judo from Tsunejiro Tomita, one of the "Four Kings" of Kodokan Judo. In the early part of the 20th Century he travelled throughout the Americas presenting Kodokan Judo in public demonstrations, sporting contests, and no-holds-barred challenge matches. In 1917 he moved to Belem do Para, Brazil, where he began teaching a style of Judo informed by his years as a fighter and competitor. Among his students was the young Carlos Gracie. When the Gracie family moved from Belem do Para to Rio de Janeiro Carlos continued his training by teaching his brothers, notably his youngest brother Helio. The style that they developed, informed by Maeda's teachings and their own experience as competitors and fighters, became the style we now know as Gracie or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

From Wikipedia:
"[10th dan Judoka Kyzuo] Mifune also states that 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. Maeda treated experienced and inexperienced students alike, throwing them as if in real combat. He 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."

Conde Koma - literally Count Combat - a nickname bought and paid for with blood and sweat in the ring. The undisputed godfather of BJJ. 

Know the history. Respect the pioneers. Get the teeshirt here. 

That ain't no typo! According to John Danaher in his introduction to MASTERING JUJITSU, jiu-jitsu, jiujitsu, jujitsu, and ju-jutsu were all widely-used and accepted anglicizations of the Japanese term at the time when Jigoro Kano incorporated his art. And, as the common practice at the time was for a martial arts instructor to name his school and NOT the style of martial art taught there (all martial arts schools at the time were "jiujitsu" schools, i.e. Goju Ryu jujitsu, Nanba Ippo-ryū jujutsu, etc.), many people simply disregarded the term "Judo" and instead referred to the style taught at the Kodokan as Kano jujitsu. 

It is interesting to note that it was this same phenomenon at work when Carlos Gracie Sr., endeavoring to open a school teaching the style he had been taught by Mitsuyo Maeda, opened the original Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy (Jiu-Jitsu being the common anglicization of the term in Brazil at that time), meaning a Jiu-Jitsu Academy run by the Gracies, and NOT an academy teaching a style known as Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. It was only later, through the influence of many pioneers including Helio Gracie, and the constant refinement demanded by Vale Tudo contests and endless randori, that a style began to emerge from Maeda's teachings that was specific to the Gracie Clan.

A tree was planted in Tokyo in 1882, and today we Jiujiteiros lie in its shade, swing from its branches, eat its fruit. It is with profound gratitude to Master Jigoro Kano that we offer this design.

Know the history. Respect the pioneers. Get the teeshirt here. 

From Wikipedia:

Yamashita Yoshiaki (February 16, 1865 – October 26, 1935) was a Japanese judoka. He was the first person to have been awarded 10th degree red belt (jūdan) rank in Kodokan Judo, although posthumously. He was one of the Four Guardians of the Kodokan, and a pioneer of judo in the United States.

Yamashita was born in Kanazawa, then the capital of the powerful Kaga Domain. His father was of the samurai class. As a boy, Yamashita trained in the traditional (koryū) Japanese martial arts schools of Yōshin-ryū and Tenjin Shin'yō-ryū jujutsu. In August 1884, he joined the Kodokan judo dojo of his childhood friend Kano Jigoro as its nineteenth member. He advanced to first degree black belt (shodan) rank in three months, fourth degree (yondan) ranking in two years, and sixth degree (rokudan) in fourteen years. He was prone to discuss the philosophy of Judo with Kano, as Yamashita initially believed power should be applied before technique.

He was a member of the Kodokan team that competed with Tokyo Metropolitan Police jujutsu teams during the mid-1880s, and during the 1890s, his jobs included teaching judo at the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy and Tokyo Imperial University (modern University of Tokyo). 

A notoriously violent man, Yamashita was known for his many street fights. In the most famous instance, he got involved in a brawl with no less than 17 laborers in Tokyo due to a dispute in a restaurant. Despite their vast numeric advantage, added to the fact that some of them wielded knives, Yamashita and a fellow judoka disposed of all the men, purposely breaking the arms of three of them in the process. Shortly after, Yoshiaki would get into another quarrel with another cadre of laborers, this time him against 15 of them, but it ended up the same way: Yamashita maimed his attackers with chokes and throws, and even killed some of them by breaking their necks. He was arrested, but was easily acquitted after proving the uneven nature of the brawls. However, he was still suspended by the Kodokan for excessive use of violence. When confronted by Kano himself, Yamashita protested and went to the extent of challenging his master to a fight, but Kano convinced to stop his violent ways by making him realize that some day he might be harmed the same way he liked to harm people.

In February 1902, Seattle-based railroad executive Samuel Hill decided that his 9-year-old son, James Nathan, should learn judo, which he had apparently seen or heard about while on a business trip to Japan. In Hill's words, the idea was for the boy to learn "the ideals of the Samurai class, for that class of men is a noble, high-minded class. They look beyond the modern commercial spirit." Hill spoke to a Japanese American business associate, Masajiro Furuya, for advice. Furuya referred Hill to Kazuyoshi Shibata, who was a student at Yale University. Shibata told Hill about Yamashita, and on July 21, 1903, Hill wrote a letter to Yamashita, asking him to come to Seattle at Hill's expense. On August 26, 1903, Yamashita replied, writing that he, his wife, and one of his students (Saburo Kawaguchi) would leave for Seattle on September 22, 1903.

The ship carrying the Yamashita party docked in Seattle on October 8, 1903. A week later, on October 17, 1903, Yamashita and Kawaguchi gave a Judo exhibition at a Seattle theater that Hill had rented for the evening. Attendance was by invitation only, and guests included Sam Hill's mother-in-law, Mary Hill (wife of railroader J.J. Hill), Senator Russell Alger, and assorted Sportswriters. Afterwards, Hill took the Yamashita party east to Washington, D.C., where Mrs. Hill and young James Nathan were then living. Meanwhile, the favorable publicity surrounding the event caused Japanese Americans living in Seattle to start their own Judo club, known as the Seattle Dojo.

Soon after arriving in the District of Columbia, Yamashita visited the Japanese Legation, and in March 1904, the Japanese naval attaché, Commander Takeshita Isamu, took Yamashita to the White House to meet President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt practiced wrestling and boxing while in the White House, and he had received jujutsu jackets from William Sturgis Bigelow and jujutsu lessons from J. J. O'Brien, a Philadelphia police officer who had studied jujutsu while living in Nagasaki. Roosevelt was impressed with Yamashita's skill, and during March and April 1904, Yamashita gave judo lessons to the President and interested family and staff in a room at the White House. Subsequently, at other locations, Yamashita and his wife Fude gave lessons to prominent American women, to include Martha Blow Wadsworth (sister of Kindergarten pioneer Susan Blow), Hallie Elkins (wife of Senator Stephen Benton Elkins), and Grace Davis Lee (Hallie Elkins' sister), and their children. 

In January 1905, Yamashita got a job teaching judo at the U.S. Naval Academy. There were about 25 students in his class, including a future admiral, Robert L. Ghormley. The position ended at the end of the school term, and Yamashita was not rehired for the following year. When President Roosevelt heard of this, he spoke to the Secretary of the Navy, who in turn told the Superintendent of the Naval Academy to rehire Yamashita. Consequently, Yamashita's judo was taught at the Naval Academy throughout the first six months of 1906.

Know the history. Rep the legacy. Get the teeshirt here.