"If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know he is part of a tree." -Crichton
In jiu jitsu circles, it is common knowledge that Mitsuyo Maeda came to Brazil, taught jiu jitsu to Carlos Gracie Sr, and Carlos taught his brothers, creating the jiu jitsu boom we are in now, nearly a century later. I illustrated this in my last blog post, as you may have read. What I left out was the fact that there was at least one other student of Maeda in Brazil, and nobody knows, or will say if he preceded Grandmaster Carlos. His name was Luis Franca.
Little is known (or spoken) about Luis Franca. He probably learned jiu jitsu before some, or possibly all of the original five sons of Gastao Gracie Sr, because he was a direct student of Maeda. He was the professor of Grandmaster Oswaldo Fadda, also a red belt. One may ask, is this non-Gracie line legitimate? I would ask multiple Mundial world champions, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza or Rodolfo Viera. They are from that line and, yes, they are legitimate.
The Franca-Fadda line is said to have accepted The Gracie Challenge and had success in the mid-20th century in Brazil with their emphasis on leg lock techniques. The Gracies at the time considered leg locks "low-class" and didn't train them much, or at all. Now, the best in the world are experts in chokes, armbars, shoulder locks and, yes, leg locks. In jiu jitsu, you don't have to do all the moves but you must know how to defend them all, which means you must train all positions and all techniques.
If anybody knows more about Luis Franca, Brazilian student of Mitsuyo Maeda; please pass the information and source so history can credit this pioneer. What the Gracies have done is done. Nobody can quantify what they have meant to martial arts. To credit another forefather will take nothing away from their contributions. The metaphor I used in my last post was that Carlos Sr. was George Washington and Helio Gracie was Thomas Jefferson. Should we omit John Adams from the story? I don't believe so.
-Gracie Lemon
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