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.