Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil 1856-1949 (Volume 1) (6 page)

It was Miyako who issued the challenge, as usual offering a prize to anyone who could defeat him [
desafiava a qualquer pessoa para luctar, promettendo premios aquelle que o conseguisse subjuga
].

Cyriaco
, bare-footed, and his supporters showed up at the Pavilhão Internacional at the usual time on Saturday May 1. But Sada Miyako declined to fight Cyriaco. The public loudly protested until Sada acquiesced. According to
O Paiz
, Cyriaco put his game plan into action, jumping like a cat and then crouching so much that he seemed to be sitting. Miyako looked for an opening to close the distance. Suddenly, Cyriaco unleashed a powerful kick, a “
rabo de arraia
” as capoeiras call it, that struck Miyako on his right temple, knocking him down instantly.

After 20 seconds, Miyako stood up
, ready to resume the contest. Cyriaco knocked him down again with another
rabo de arraia
. That almost killed Miyako [
quasi mata de novo o japonez
]. Miyako then conceded defeat and left the arena. Cyriaco’s supporters were delirious with joy and carried him to the editorial office of
O Paiz
, where he was congratulated for defending the national school, capoeiragem, against the Japanese school, jiu-jitsu. Cyriaco was proclaimed to be a champion [
Cyriaco, é, pois, um campeão
].
24

Despite this very convincing demonstration of the limitations of jiu-jitsu, Miyako continued giving his shows. He may have taken a week off to recuperate. Newspaper ads are lacking for the first week of May. On
Monday May 10, 1909,
O Paiz
announced that “Sada Miyako will continue the lutas of ‘jiu-jitsu’ that have aroused such interest”[
Sada Miyako continuará as luctas do ‘jiu-jitsu’ que tanto interresse tem despertado
]. That was the last ad. He may have continued, as the ad stated. However, there is no record available at this time.

Miyako’s defeat probably had a negative impact on public perceptions. If a simple stevedore could crush a jiu-jitsu champion, capoeiragem must be the better art, some people clearly concluded. But jiu-jitsu partisans saw it differently. It isn’t the art alone, but the art applied by a man. Jiu-jitsu was scientific and everyone knew how powerful science was. Maybe the man, Sada Miyako, was lacking some of the elements needed to successfully represent the game. Perhaps a more decorated jiu-jitsu man could represent the art more satisfactorily. Certainly, that is what commentators later concluded.

Visit

Sada Miyako may have gone to
São Paulo. In June of 1910, the Japanese Imperial Navy warship Ykoma paid a visit to Rio. Good will and public relations events included demonstrations of espada,
esgrima
, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, boxing (described as “
jogo Inglez
”), and Japanese sword dancing [
kenbu
]. In addition to local dignitaries, members of the “
colonia japoneza
” of São Paulo attended. Among them were S. Sekiguchi and Sada Miako [Miyako’s name was also written Miako and Miaco] both described as members of the Japanese colony in São Paulo [
membros da colonia japoneza da capita de S. Paulo
].
25

Departure

Sada Miyako and Mme. Kakiara departed but Paschoal Segreto planned to bring jiu-jitsu back, but this time a more famous expert, namely Raku (Sadakazu Uyenishi). In the mean time, luta romana and luta livre continued. The following is a brief sketch of what happened.

The results of the fourth night of the 5
th
Luta Romana Grande Campeonato Internacional, with a prize of 30,000 francos, at Concerto Avenida, Friday August 6, 1909, were reported. Competitors were required to weigh at least 98 kilos to be qualified to enter. World champion Peterson (112 kilos) defeated Austrian champion Schneider (110 kilos); by
cientur a rebout tourbillon
; Italian champion Grenna Raffaele (113 kilos) bested Russian Champion Constatinowich (110 kilos) by
prise d’epaules a terre
; Constant le Marin (115 kilos) from Belgium beat Girsa (98 kilos) from Turkey by
duble prise d’epaule
; and D’Anvers (111 kilos) champion of Belgium subdued German champion Schakmann (108 kilos) by
cientur an avant
after a 23 minute war [
tourada durou demaisadamente
]. The results were reported with great seriousness.
26

The Street

Miguel Rodrigues Riberio had a vegetable garden at Andarhy on rua Maria Eugenia. A certain Antonio Sobrinho, also known as Jose Francisco, went to Mr. Ribeiro’s garden with the aim of “gathering” some fruits. Mr. Riberio showed up and chastised Jose Francisco, who vowed perverse vengeance. Later, when Riberio was leaving his home to visit friends, Jose Francisco suddenly attacked him with a razor blade with homicidal intent. Mr. Riberio suffered extensive and deep cuts to his face, chest, and left arm. Jose Francisco attempted to flee but was pursued by neighborhood residents who apprehended and presented him to the 16
th
district police station. The gravely injured Mr. Riberio was taken to the hospital da Misericordia.
27

Mixed Fighting

In a 72-minute luta romana match on Monday September 20, 1909, Calmette broke the rules by administering a ”
bofetada
” [slap] to the face of Constant le Marin. The match had been equal and closely-disputed up to that point. Offended by Calmette’s dishonorable act, Constant requested permission to fight “luta livre”, but was denied, a decision that was roundly booed by the fans. Calmette left the ring to consult with Schakmann who was watching. After re-entering the ring, he was easily defeated by Constant, with a “
prise de d’avant
”.
28

In their Thursday September 30 match, Paul Pons and Constant again drew. It seemed that another match would be needed to decide the winner. On Friday, Aimable de la Calmette would face face Peterson, and Caseaux would confront Dierry from
Senegal. Dierry was scheduled to encounter Smykal the following Tuesday in a luta livre match.

Paschoal Segreto, in addition to presenting interesting luta livres, was organizing challenges between luta romana and luta livre fighters
. Caseaux, Schackman and Dierry were already on board. A brave Japanese fighter was expected to arrive soon. The Japanese fighter was Sadakazu Uyenishi, better known to local fans as “Raku”.
29

Precise adherence to any rule-set took a definite backseat to entertainment value.
Anthing was possible if the fans would pay to see it.

Between September 21 and October 6, many luta romana men had become luta li
vre men or adopted the game. Luta romana could become luta livre by the simple expedient of allowing the fighters to slap each other, which presumably generated more fan interest.
30
Grabbing the legs was allowed but not required. The wrestlers didn’t need to modify their act to a great extent.

Luta
romana fighters could also punch and kick. The match would be described as “savate” for the occasion, not because the wrestlers had any savate qualifications, but because it was different. Fans would pay to see it. Savate Franceza was used by bad guys and vagrants in France [
como é usado pelos malandros e vadias Francezes
]. It was the French version of capoeiragem, which was the “sport of bad behavior” [
sport da malandragem
]
.
31
It might attract fans. The fighters and promoters had nothing to lose by trying.

On
Friday, October 8, 1909, Caseaux faced Calmette in a savate match. Caseaux won after 35 minutes.
32

Few such matches were offered, so it is likely that the wrestlers were too far out of their element to put on convincing shows. Savate after all, was the
jogo do pernas
, the game of legs, the art of kicking. Enormous men probably felt safer and looked less ridiculous with their feet on the ground.

Saturday October 9, was the last day of the 4
th
Campeonato Internacional de Luta Romana. It had been going on for the last two months [
iniciado ha seguramente dous mezes no palco do concerto avenida
]. The great French champion Paul Pons would meet Peterson.
33

Cyriaco Returns

Not long after demolishing Sada Miyako, Cyriaco happened to watch a luta livre match. He immediately challenged any luta livre fighter, Dierry in particular, to face him. Dierry was a luta romana wrestler but like most luta romana wrestlers he fought under luta livre rules when required.

Cyriaco promised to put into play all of the his maneuvers, including the
“sting-ray tail kick” [
rabo de arraia
] that he used to knock-out Sada Miyako. Cyriaco was registered to compete in the Jiu-Jitsu championship scheduled to be held at Concerto Avenida soon after the imminent arrival of the champion Raku. No doubt he would be setting his sights on Raku himself.
34

Dierry accepted. The match was set for Monday October 11, if the police allowed it to take place.
35

There was no mention of the Dierry versus Cyriaco fight in subsequent editions, nor did it become the stuff of legends (like the Cyriaco versus Sada Miyako fight), so apparently the police didn’t allow it. In any event, the jiu-jutsu champion Raku was Cyriaco’s next target.

No Money

Tuesday October 12, 1909
was the final day of the 5
th
campeonato that began August 3. As expected Pons defeated Peterson with a “
double prise de tête á terre
” to emerge as the tournament champion. Pons climbed into the ring along with Constant le Marin, Aimable, and Peterson, to collect the 30,000 francos that Paschoal Segreto had promised. But strangely, Segreto did not arrive with the money. The fighters offered it to the poor people of the city, presumably when or if Segreto came up with it.

They evidently believed that he was good for it because they contracted for four more months of luta romana matches, although not necessarily a tournament, from Wednesday October 13.
36
The famous world jiu-jitsu champion Raku was expected soon. He would certainly provide some novelty.

Raku versus Cyriaco

As always, the actual physical arrival a fighter or troupe was preceded by several weeks of advertising, announcing their imminent arrival and usually the initiation of a tournament. A jiu-jitsu versus capoeiragem match, pitting Raku versus Cyriaco, was promised.
37
Ads and short news items about Raku appeared almost every day in the local newspapers beginning October 6, 1909.
38
The promised vehicles for his “fights” were the “Campeonato Internacional de Luta Romana”, the “Grande Campeonato Internacional de Jiu-Jitsu”, and the “Campeonato de Luta Japoneza”.

Previously it had been mentioned that Raku had suffered loses to Arnoldo Jose Ferreira, to Taro Miyake, and to “Dialutzu.” But now he was described as invincible [
invencivel
], and the only fighter who had never been beaten [
unico luctador que nunca for derrotado
].
39

The last mention of Raku’s arrival was October 24 in
Revista da Semana,
in which it was announced that
Concerto Avenida was preparing a new championship of the Japanese Fight with Raku, again described as invincible.
40

There is no evidence that Raku arrived until 1915, when he came to
Rio with the Conde Koma troupe. By that time Cyriaco had died (on May 18, 1912), leaving no marketable capoeiragem representative to face him. Instead, Raku fought with members of his own troupe, and from time to time with the co-resident luta romana representatives.

.

Chapter 3 Notes

Chapter 4

1910-1913

Between the departure of Sada Miyako in 1909 and the arrival of the Conde Koma troupe in 1914, the circuses and variety show stages of
Rio were bereft of jiu-jitsu. Jiu-jitsu was not forgotten however. It was used by police for law enforcement purposes and physical training and by athletically inclined civilians as a sport.

Waldemar Silva and Carlos Pinto Soares engaged in a jiu-jitsu match on
Sunday December 19, 1909. It was one event in an all day sports festival at Centro de Cultura Physica. The festival included four luta romana matches, one featuring the professional wrestler João Baldi, and a fencing match between Mario Lages and Mario Aleixo.
1
Baldi and Aleixo later played significant, if unintended, roles in popularizing jiu-jitsu in Rio.

People who did not practice sports could read about or see them. English and French language translations of jiu-jitsu books had been available since 1906 at the latest and probably much earlier, and jiu-jitsu images had been visible on the movie screens. In August of 1912, a new translation of one of Irving Hancock’s books was on sale in
Rio bookstores, among them Livaria Schetino, on Travessa do Ouvidor. The book’s ample photographs clearly showed the most difficult positions and made it easy to study jiu-jitsu [
As photogravuras explicam bem as mais difficeis posições e jiu-jitsu é facil de estudar
].
2

It is more than possible that some jiu-jitsu enthusiasts, possibly even those who claimed to have mastered the secrets and unlocked the mysteries of jiu-jitsu, acquired their knowledge from this and other books. They definitely adopted the clichés and misconceptions.

Jiu-jitsu could be used to create a news item, or at least, content for a magazine or newspaper article. One example: In an article in
Fon-Fon
, the “hook” was the fact that one of the two English
suffragistas
[advocates of equal voting rights for women], who established a feminist association, was a jiu-jitsu expert. She was Mistress Garrud and she wanted to teach the resources of the Japanese game to her partner Miss Kelly and their feminist colleagues. She hoped to build an army of athletes composed of the fair sex whose primary assignment would be to eject men who tried to disrupt their feminist “meetings”. Mistress Garrud personally threw a six-foot policeman to the ground, it was alleged.
3

In January of 1912,
Gazeta de Noticas
invited various authorities and experts to express their opinions about “Which ‘Sport’ is most Difficult” [
Qual o <> mais dificil?
].

The noted sportsman Mauricio Guilard believed that the most difficult sport was jiu-jitsu, because it developed all of the muscles, and in addition cultivated “
sangue frio
” or coolness under pressure. He mentioned Tarro Miyako [Taro Miayke], Raku Uyenishi, and Yuco [Yukio] Tani as exemplary practicioners, and concluded with a comment that is as applicable today as it was then: “all sports are equally good. The big mistake is not training in any of them” [“
todos os demais sports, são igualmente bons, o grande erro em não praticar nenhum delles
”].
4

Mixed Fighting

While boxing was not a widely practiced domestic sport, international boxing news was regularly reported. Boxing films were also shown. The Odeon theater showed seven movies on Thursday September 18, 1910. The seventh was the Sam MacVea versus Jim Johnson “match de box” from Paris. On the same day, world luta romana champion Raicevich would be confronting Russian champion Romanoff at Paschoal Segreto’s Theatre Carlos Gomes.
5

After the George Carpentier versus Jim Sullian fight (February 29, 1912) Constant le Marin announced that he planned to leave luta romana and lose 10 of his 106 kilos to focus on boxing. In the same article, it was reported that in the middle of April the famous North American heavyweight world boxing champion Jack Johnson would (he said) engage in a wrestling match with Frank Gotch, who offered a guarantee of 150,000 francs.
6

Campeonatos of boxing were presented alongside luta romana and luta livre, in the same theaters, presented by the same empresarios. Sometimes luta romana and luta livre fighters tried their hands at boxing, and eventually, vice-versa. In 1913, a North American boxer named Sam MacVea (also called Kid Mak Veo and Mace Vea) appeared in at least one
Rio variety show boxing campeonato, conducted along the same lines as the tournaments of luta romana, livre livre, and in due course, jiu-jitsu. All were presented by the legendary empresario Paschoal Segreto.

Luta
romana champion Jose Floriano Peixoto, despite not being a boxer (he had one boxing bout under his belt), accepted the general challenge launched by Belgian boxer Joseph Beerens, just arrived in Rio. On February 13 they fought a
desempate a morte
, meaning that they had already fought and drawn twice before in the previous two weeks.
7
For his part, Beerens had competed successfully in luta romana fights in Chile in 1905 and 1907.
8
Luta romana champions Jules Jourdan and Alfred Popper engaged in an 8-round boxing match in May 1913. It ended in a draw.
9

Luta
romana continued to attract fans. Theatro Alvaro de Carvalho in Florianopolis, operated by Empreza Gonsalves & Cia, presented the “Great Continuation of Luta Romana between the Worthy Champions” [“
Grande Continuação de Lucta Romana entre os Valentes Campeões
”] as the seventh of seven acts that Tuesday.
10
Luta romana contests were still popular in 1917 and after as well.
11

In fact, luta romana remained more popular (or at least more newsworthy) than luta livre for decades. Using two major newspapers,
Correio da Manhã
and
Jornal do Brasil
, as reference points (because they are archived by decade over the relevant time period), between 1900 and 1909, luta romana was referenced 951 times, luta livre 5 times. Between 1910-1919, luta romana was referenced 1,058 times, luta livre 56 times. Between 1920 and 1929 luta romana was referenced 612 times, luta livre 47 times. Between 1930 and 1939 luta romana was referenced 188 times, luta livre 758 times, and between 1940 and 1949 luta romana was referenced 16 times, luta livre 443 times. The relative rise of luta livre vis-à-vis luta romana is easy to see.

Luta
Romana

In February of 1913, Paschoal Segreto announced that he would be opening a “
grande campeonato de luta romana
” at Pavilhão Internacional within the next few days [
em breves dias
]
.
The “troupe” of fighters arrived on Wednesday February 19, 1913, on the “Principessa Mafalda” and promptly visited the
O Imparcial
editorial office to introduce themselves. The participating wrestlers, their names, heights, weights, titles, dates of birth, and nationalities were described two days before their arrival and the day after in
O Imparcial
and
A Epoca
.
12
Segreto wanted to leave no doubts that these were big men, they were international, and they were all champions.

They were:

.

Fritz Muller (186 cm, 130 kgs., born in 1881, champion of
Europe)

Victor Heusch (182 cm, 125 kgs., born in 1878, champion of
Belgium)

Willy Felgenhauer (181 cm, 120 kgs., born in 1880, champion of
Austria-Hungary)

Emile Vervet (175 cm, 120 kgs., born in 1875, champion of
France)

Alfred Popper (184 cm, 110 kgs., born in 1879, champion of
Vienna)

Ferdinando Priano (183 cm, 100 kgs., born in 1891, champion of “ligure”)

Jules Jourdan (172 cm, 120 kgs., born in 1878, champion of Marseilles)

Ambroise le Suisse (173 cm, 95 kgs., born in 1889, champion of
Switzerland)

Ella Pampuri (175 cm, 91 kgs., born in 1879, champion of
Geneva)

Henry Coenen (195 cm, 125 kgs. champion of Brussells)

Emilio Ruggero (180 cm, 116 kgs., champion of Italy)

Giovanni Raicevich (173 cm, 115 kgs.
, born in 1882, world champion)

.

The Street

In Anhangá, Belem, February 18, Raymundo da Silva, 15, killed his 13 year old  brother with a shotgun blast to the chest [
tiro do espingarda no coração
]. He was arrested, showing symptoms of mental illness [
apresenta symptomas de alienação mental
].

A poor boy from
Santos named Emilio Pinto stowed aboard a ship headed to Lisbon. There he was discovered and sent back to Brazil on the German steamship “Bahia”.
13

Modelo de Jiu-Jitsu

The Japanese navy training ship “Tassei Maru” visited Rio in April. On Sunday afternoon April 27 a festival was hosted on board, featuring demonstrations and matches of kenjitsu and jiu-jitsu. A “modelo de ‘jiu-jitsu’” was presented by M. Katsuki and U. Ogishima. Then matches involving B. Baba, K. Ishibashi, N. Nakahara, Y. Ieranaka, H. Aminaka, R. Ogawa, M. Katsuki, and S. Ama. The individual competitors represented two groups, the red and the white (the red group won [
venceu grupo vermelho
].The kenjitsu presentation (which preceded the jiu-jitsu activities) was similar. The guests were greatly impressed with the cleanliness of the ship and the skillfulness of the matches and demonstrations.
14

Pavilhão Internacional had presenting boxing since as early as February 1913, when Joseph Beerens met the Brazilian luta romana champion Jose Floriano Peixoto Filho. They had several, indeed, numerous, rematches. In fact they were still fighting on Sunday March 30 in what was called a “
continuação do grande combate de box inglez entre Floriano Peixoto e Joseph Beerens
”.
15

On April 2, Joseph Beerens and North American champion Jack Murray fought a
desempate
[tie-breaker]. The fight the night before (Tuesday April 1) had been an
empate
[draw]. Beerens had been in the ring three nights straight.
16

Paschoal Segreto had been presenting individual matches of boxing, concurrently with luta romana and luta livre campeonatos. He merged the two concepts and decided to provide a campeonato of boxing, and rather than wrestlers like Jose Floriano, real “
boxistas
” who were already in Rio and others who were expected to arrive [
no qual se inscreveram varias boxistas que se acham neste capital e outros a chegar
]. Paschoal Segreto was known as a man who made things happen. By May 1, he had his boxers.
17

The international boxers participating in the Pavilhão Internancional campeonato
18
included Joseph Beerens (Belgium), Alfredo LeComte (France and Argentina), Louis Condor (probably the French comic gymnast), Harry Green (North America), Jack Murray (North America), Jose Leslie (Portugal), Charle Jackson, Paul Winter, Adams, Stone, and Kid MacVea, described as the North American
preto
[black man]. This may have been someone using Sam MacVea’s name, or it might actually have been Sam MacVea who was well-known by informed fans for his devastating victory over the Japanese jiu-jitsu professor Matsuda in France in 1908.
19
One of the boxers, Leconte (also spelled Lecomte), was versatile. He later fought and lost to Conde Koma in Belém, by disqualification, in 1915.
21

Fighters came and went. A few were regulars, while others fought once or twice. On April 5, English champion Jayme Grossman fought North American champion Benn Smith.
22
Two days later Benn Smith fought Lecomte on April 7.
23
The next two nights (April 8 and 9) Alfred Lecomte fought German champion Joe Krauss.
24
It is possible that some fighters sometimes used fake names (or ethnic identities) to create the impression of novelty, to appeal to fans from particular cultural groups, to disguise their true identity, or for any other reason. It was not unusual at the time. Even heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey did it.
25
Boxing eventually became too big, too profitable, too popular, and too regulated for circuses and variety shows.Wrestling was the perfect fit.

A typical evening at Pavilhão Internacional was
Thursday May 8, 1913. The program began at 9:00 with luta livre (Ambroise le Suisse versus Jules Jourdan), followed by boxing (Louis Condor versus MacVea, Alfred Lecomte versus Stone, and Charle Jackson versus Paul Winter), and finally Luta romana at 11:00 (João Baldi versus Henry Cohenen; Victor Hensch versus Willi Felgenhaur; and Emilio Ruggerio versus Elia Pampuri).
26

Treachery

Luta romana could segue into luta livre, either by prior agreement, or by treachery on the part of one fighter.

Willy Felgenhauer, luta romana champion of
Austria-Hungary, promised to need no more than 20 minutes to subdue world luta romana champion Giovanni Raicevich in a luta livre contest, which took place on Wednesday, April 30 at Pavilhão Internacional. At the end of match, Raicevich was still standing and in consequence, was declared the winner.
27