Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art

BIMBA AND ‘REGIONAL’ STYLE 127
capoeira used a rabo de arraia which hit his opponent’s head. In the second version, he first spit or threw
sand in Miako’s eyes before hitting him. The latter story puts more emphasis on the deception or cunning of
the capoeira (malícia) and is thus preferred by some narrators. 7 After his victory, Ciríaco was carried in
triumph by a group of students along the newly built Central Avenue. A verse (quadra) celebrating his
achievement was heard on Rio’s streets. 8 For the nationalists in search of a Brazilian gymnastics, this
outcome confirmed that capoeira was superior to any other ‘foreign’ martial art. Ciríaco was invited to show
his dexterity to a group of academics at the Faculty of Medicine, which again led to numerous comments
about the superiority of capoeira in the press. As Jair Moura underlined, Ciríaco’s exploit contributed to the
rehabilitation of capoeira after the years of heavy repression in the capital.
Despite nationalist claims, capoeira was not always as successful when confronting other martial arts in
free style contests. When the aforementioned Mitsuyo Maeda, also known as Count Koma, settled in
Belém, on the Amazon estuary in the 1910s, he faced Brazilian fighters, especially stevedores from the
harbour zone. In one combat the Japanese immediately overthrew a capoeira fighter, who had to give up or
have his leg broken. 9
The success of ju-jitsu prize fights did not fail to impress Brazilians; the first ju-jitsu schools were indeed
registered in Belém and in Rio de Janeiro in 1914 and 1927. 10 Soon Brazilians became proficient in the art
and entered the ring. One of Maeda’s students in Belém was Carlos Gracie, who later developed his own,
Brazilian style of ju-jitsu. Gracie started to teach in the 1920s in Rio de Janeiro. He was responsible,
together with his brothers, for the establishment of the now famous Gracie or Brazilian ju-jitsu that has won
many international free style competitions in recent decades.
Western forms of wrestling, such as boxing, catch-as-catch-can and the Greco-Roman style also spread
throughout the main Brazilian cities, leading to the creation of the first local Federation in Rio, in 1930, and
a Brazilian Confederation of Pugilism in 1933. 11 On the other hand, the expansion of ju-jitsu and European
wrestling forms contributed to intensify nationalist appeals to ‘sportify’ capoeira, tbe strongest and most
original native martial tradition existing in Brazil. It also favoured reciprocal influences. Maeda for instance
is said to have developed his techniques by carefully observing wrestling and boxing and understanding
their potential weaknesses. 12 Since free style contests in the ring were open to practitioners of any martial
art, it could be an advantage to be proficient in several of them. Many famous athletes of the 1920s thus
attempted to combine Western boxing, Greco-Roman wrestling, and savate with Eastern martial arts. One
should not be surprised that some of them also turned towards capoeira. If an ‘amateur’ such as Ciríaco
could defeat a professional ju-jitsu champion, the art certainly could be used to achieve victory in the ring.
In that context two individuals made an important contribution towards the modernization of capoeira and
its re-adaptation to a sports environment. Anibal Burlamaqui had been practising Swedish gymnastics,
weight lifting and training on horizontal bars since the age of ten. He states that he learned Greco-Roman
wrestling at eighteen, and later trained in boxing with ‘some constancy’. 13 As one of his friends wrote in the
preface to his pamphlet, he was a ‘young sportsman, a true athlete’—in short a very different character from
the traditional Cariocan capoeira. As a nationalist he was, however, deeply committed to transform capoeira
into the national gymnastics of his native country. For the first time, a notable personality was not simply
appealing for the transformation of capoeira into the national gymnastics, but was actually devising a
concrete method towards that end. 14 As the title of his pamphlet Ginástica Nacional (Capoeiragem)
metodizadae regrada (1928), suggests, Burlamaqui worked out rules of how capoeira matches should be
fought in the ring. Most took their inspiration from boxing: short confrontations of three minutes interrupted
by two minutes of rest. Athletes were to dress in shorts and shirts like boxers, and wear boxing ankle boots.
Burlamaqui suggested a series of exercises, insisting on the importance of training different types of
jumps, how to fall and get up quickly, and how to confuse the opponent through constant movement