Never Stop Learning
I love the Mundials. I loved competing, even when I lost, and I like being a fan even more. Six years ago, I wrote a post about the experience that describes why everyone should go to the BJJ Worlds at least once.
Part of the fun is watching the best in the world — and to make it a little more fun, I thought I’d predict some of the black belt division results. You can check out the brackets here if you’d like to follow along. Continue reading “IBJJF World Championships: 2018 picks”
Dr. Jose Tufy Cairus, a historian and professor at Brazil’s Federal Institute of Santa Catarina, is one of the few scholars studying Brazilian jiu-jitsu jistory. Cairus’ father was involved with Brazilian judo for decades, and the author himself trained with Carlson Gracie — something you’ll hear all about in this interview! For more, you can read Dr. Cairus’ dissertation on BJJ history, here in PDF format.
You’ll learn what he things the biggest misconceptions about BJJ history are; who the first Japanese person to teach Kodokan Judo in Brazil was; who the first woman to train was; what the differences were between Jigoro Kano’s judo at the time and the jiu-jitsu taught by Mitsuyo Maeda (who wasn’t the only one using the “Count Koma” name); the critical role of Donato Pires dos Reis and Jacinto Ferro; the importance of Brazil’s Navy in promoting jiu-jitsu, and how Maeda taught to the Brazilian Navy in the Amazon, including Luis Soto; Geo Omori and Takeo Yano’s contributions to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu; how Brazil’s history, including the transition from the monarchy to the Old Republic to the dictatorship to the authoritarian estado novo affected jiu-jitsu — especially a harrowing story about when Robson and Carlson were arrested by the Brazilian military government, and how they got out with the help of Helio Gracie & Helio Vigio.
Toro Cup 9 was a great day filled with 25 action-packed matches! We had a few technical issues, but were able to capture all the matches (that’s the good news). Thanks to Andrew Faherty of Remington Place Productions, we’re going to have high-quality video of all the matches, featuring commentary tracks.
The bad news — which is also good news for Betsy and Jeff — is that we’re leaving for Ireland for two weeks! We don’t want to leave you bereft, so we’re going to list all the results and some early, rough video of a few matches here. Enjoy, and see you in two weeks!
It was amazing to see everyone. If you want to follow us on our new jiujitsu adventure after the move, check out bellinghambjj.com! Continue reading “Toro Cup 9 Results”
For the past 10 years, we’ve been proudly rooted in Durham, North Carolina — the mighty Bull City, a place that punches above its weight in terms of history, art, culture, food and jiu-jitsu. A part of me and my family will always be here in the place where esse quam videri (to be, rather than to seem) is the motto.
The only constant is change, in life and in jiu-jitsu. Dirty White Belt is moving about as far one can move and still stay in the lower 48 states, to Bellingham, Washington, home of Western Washington University. In driving from one ‘Ham to another, we’ll finish up in the upper left edge of the country, about 30 minutes from the Canadian border. We’ll be road-tripping across the USA along this route, possibly stopping at a gym near you.
Does this mean we’re going to stop writing about and podcasting about jiu-jitsu in the American Southeast? Far from it. Quite the opposite, in fact: we’re taking the show along its natural trajectory, expanding to topics national and international. Lourdes will still be here in the great state of North Carolina, doing interviews and the occasional post, and we’ll stay plugged in to the scene down here even as we acclimate to the new home place.
So if the move doesn’t mean the end — what does it mean? Growth, mostly. Expansion. And a few changes to the format of the podcast that we think you’ll like. It’s probably best to imagine some of the common questions that will come up, and respond to them. Continue reading “DWB is Moving — and Growing”
You might remember the guest post we ran from “Professor X,” a jiujitsu school owner who has been in business fewer than 5 years. The Large Professor (Google it, kids) opened the books to us and made some candid observations about the business side of jiu-jitsu. Best of all, Professor X offered to answer any questions you might have had — and boy, did you send some in! Here’s our first edition of Ask Professor X. Got more questions? Post ’em in the comments.
Continue reading “Ask Professor X: Financial Realities of a Jiujitsu School”