The Other Japanese Master — the One History Forgot

WHY THIS ARTICLE

Restoring the secondary figures is a requirement of method: the myth simplifies by keeping only one duel and two names. Kakihara, his embarkation at Yokohama, his demonstrations, his abandonment of the challenges — this is the exact context in which 1 May 1909 becomes possible.

Yokohama–Rio, June–December 1908

The arrival of jiu-jitsu in Brazil has a date, a ship and a context — which the thesis restores against the legends of castaways. The context: Japan’s military victory over Russia (1904–1905). One of the explanations advanced for Japanese supremacy was the efficacy of their combat method; jiu-jitsu then spread through Europe — France, England — to the United States and to South America: Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil.

The same year 1908, in June, the Kasato Maru officially opened Japanese immigration to Brazil — 781 migrants engaged in the coffee fazendas of São Paulo to make up for the labour shortage born of the 1888 abolition. The two professors, however, do not travel with the migrants. Contracted by the Minister of War “to teach all the subtleties of their method of physical education to the apprentice sailors,” Sakuzo Miura — the future “Sada Miako” — and Ume Kakihara embark at Yokohama in June 1908 aboard the Brazilian Navy training ship, the Benjamin Constant, and land in December. Two functionaries of combat, arrived by the official route, in a climate that Luiz Murat’s polemic against the minister’s “jiú-jitzú” already rendered hostile.

From the Tir do Leme to the role of Hercules

From their arrival, alongside their Navy mission, the two men show themselves: in January 1909, they give jiu-jitsu demonstrations for the members of the Tir do Leme. Then, in April 1909, Paschoal Segreto engages them at the Pavilhão Internacional. There they take on a role with a history: that of Hercules, held at the end of the nineteenth century by the specialists of Greco-Roman wrestling — and since abandoned by them. The principle: to face amateurs each evening, five pounds of gold to whoever resisted three minutes against the throws. The bouts follow one another. A Frenchman tries his luck, a Portuguese too. None prevails.

The man who withdrew

Here Kakihara’s trajectory becomes a document. “After a difficult fight, the first ceased to take part in these challenges. Only Myako continued to fight against the strong men of Rio de Janeiro.” A difficult fight — the source says no more. But the institutional consequence is recorded: after Kakihara’s withdrawal, the rule changes. The amateurs must now hold not three but ten minutes on their feet to pocket the sum. The trade of the invincible had just revealed its nature: a commercial device, adjustable when the risk rose.

Kakihara, by withdrawing, left his colleague alone before the strong men of Rio — and before the one who, on the evening of 1 May, would climb barefoot onto the stage. The rest belongs to the neighbouring article. Kakihara returned to his original mission: the apprentice sailors of the national Navy — the reason why two Japanese professors had, one day in June 1908, embarked at Yokohama.

SOURCES

“O ‘Benjamin Constant’,” Jornal do Brasil, 17 Dec. 1908; “Instrucção militar,” Correio da Manhã, 14 Jan. 1909; Jornal do Brasil, 17 Apr. 1909; “Pavilhão Internacional,” O Paiz, 19–20 Apr. 1909 — National Library of Brazil (Rio de Janeiro). — Schpun, M. R., “L’immigration japonaise au Brésil,” Cahiers du Brésil Contemporain, 71/72, 2008. — Malo, O., La capoeira et les arts de combat noirs : histoire effacée, techniques invisibles (1905–1984), doctoral thesis, Université des Antilles, 2020, Part I, chap. A.2.

IN THE CORPUS

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HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE

MALO, Olivier. The Other Japanese Master — the One History Forgot. In: Black Combat Arts Institute — Articles [online]. No. 25. 2026 [accessed date]. Available from: https://www.blackcombatarts.com/articles/the-other-japanese-master-the-one-history-forgot. Adapted from the author's doctoral thesis, Université des Antilles, 2020.