The Man Who Defeated Helio Gracie

[duchman]

MASAHIKO KIMURA

Masahiko Kimura (1917-1993), judo 7th dan obtained at age 29, is undoubtedly the greatest Judoka to ever live. He stood 5'6" (170 cm) tall and weighed 185 pounds (84kg).

ULTIMATE FIGHT IN BRAZIL - 1951

Kimura became the All Japan Open Weight Judo Champion at age 20. He maintained this title for 13 years without suffering a single defeat during this period. In 1950 he left judo to become a professional Judoka and wrestler. In July 1951 Kimura and two other fellow Japanese Judoka were asked to compete in Brazil. Kimura at age 34 was accompanied by a 240 pound (110kg) college champion Yamaguchi (6th degree black belt at the time) and Kado (5th degree black belt). It was to be a Judo/Jiu-jitsu fight.

Kado accepted a challenge from Helio Gracie - Brazilian champion for 20 years. The loser was determined by tapping out due to a choke or armbar, or by being knocked out of commission. Ippon (clean powerful throws) or osaekomi (pinning) would have no effect on the results of competition. During Kado's fight he threw Gracie several times. Gracie, who was in excellent condition, demonstrated ukemi, braking the throws with little injury. After 10 minutes of frustration, Kado decided to apply a choke. However, the masterful Gracie applied his own choke rendering Kado unconscious. With Kado's passing-out, Gracie was declared the winner and became a national hero of Brazil!

Weeks later, Gracie challenged the remaining two team members, either Yamaguchi or Kimura, to a match. Yamaguchi refused for fear of injury, however Kimura accepted the challenge. There were 20,000 spectators present. A coffin was brought in by Gracie's followers. Presumably, Kimura was to be killed by Gracie. On the day of the match, the President and Vice President of Brazil attended at ringside


During the fight, Kimura threw Gracie repeatedly with Ippon Seoinage, Osoto-gari, and Haraigoshi. He also included painful suffocating grappling techniques such as Kuzurekamishihogatame, Kesagatame, Sankakugatame. Gracie proved to be a formidable opponent refusing to surrender after 12 minutes of grueling fight. Kimura then took Gracie down with an Osotogari followed by Kuzurekamishihogatame. During the battle that followed, Gracie bridged out of the pin and right into Kimura's ude-garami (arm bar). The arm bar must have been painful but when Gracie refused to surrender, Kimura applied yet more pressure, and as a result Gracie suffered a broken left elbow.

Even with the broken elbow, Gracie still refused to give up, so his comer "threw in the towel". Kiinura was declared the winner by TKO. Although Kimura won the actual fight, it was acknowledged that Gracie had the greater fighting spirit and will. Kimura later applauded Gracie's tremendous will to win.

KIMURA'S MAJOR JUDO VICTORIIES

Kimura was born on September 10, 1917 in Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyusu, Japan. He started to practice Judo at age 10. By the time he was a senior in High School, he had reached 4th dan. In 1935, he won his first title, the All-Japan Collegiate Championships. At the samc time he was promotcd to the 5th dan by defeating eight (8) consecutive opponents at Kodokan.

In October 1937, Kimura competed in All Japan Judo Championships. In his semi-finals, he won with Ippon using Osoto-gari in only a few seconds. Nakashima, a two-time champion was his final opponent. The match was scheduled for 40 minutes. In the first 15 minutes no one scored any decisive points. In the second pcriod Kimura scored a Wazari with Seoi-nage. Kimura felt that he had won the match, but Nakashima countered with left Uchimata. Thus, the second period was a draw. In the last 10 minute period, Nakashima was taken down where Kimura applied Kuzure-kami-shiho-gatame, After the 30 second pin, Kimura was declared the winner.

In 1938, at The 8th All Japan Judo Championship, Kimura made it to the fourth round match easily. His opponent was Tashiro. Tashiro was known for his excellent Kani-basami (now banned from use due the fact that even if applied correctly with speed and force, it most often results in a broken leg).

When the match started, Kimura threw Tashiro with Osoto-gari. The throw was so powerful that Tashiro hurt his right shoulder and was unable to continue. In the final match Kimura won by Ippon with Kuzure-kamishiho gataine over Ogawa.

The following year at the 9th All Japan Judo Championships, Kimura again made it to the fourth round easily. Here he defeated Tsuzimoto with Tsurikomi-goshi. He warned his final opponent, Tokizane, just prior to the match that he was going to defeat him using Osoto-gari. Ironically, Tokizane's specialized favorite was also Osoto-gari. However, even his expertise was no match for Kimura. Tokizane took an extremely defensive posture at the start of the match. Kimura circumvented these defenses with an Osoto-gari and Osoto-otoshi combination. With the winning of this title, Kimura had won the last three All Japan Tournaments. For his winnings he was awarded the Championship Flag. He is the only person in the world to ever posses the flag.

TEN-RAN SHIAI

Kimura's next major win was in 1940 at the Ten-Ran Shiai. This was a special tournament held in the presence of Japan's emperor. Kimura won the first match with Ippon using Ushiro-goshi. In the next two matches he won with Osoto-gari. His semi-final opponent was Hirosei. Hirosei was the champion in 1941. (Kimura was not present at that tournament, but in previous meetings, Kimura had won by Wazaris using Osoto-gari.) His first five attempts to throw Hirosei were unsuccessful. However, Hirosei tired, and Kimura defeated him by Ippon using Osoto-gari.

His final opponent Ishikawa was the champion in 1949 and 1950. (Kimura had defeated him with Osoto-gari and Tsurikomi-goshi in the past meetings.) This time Kimura defeated him decisively with Ippon Seoi-nage just 42 seconds into the match.

In 1948 Yoshimi Osawa (9th dan), past All-Japan contender, considered to be one of the best technicians after WWII, defeated Yasuichi Matsumoto, 6'2" (184 cm) 220 lbs, (100 kg). Matsumoto was the All Japan Champion in 1948. One of the factors of his winning the title was that the NUMBER ONE (i.e., Kimura) PLAYER was not there... Kimura was not invited due to his refusal to return the Prized championship flag.


WINS AGAINST FUTURE GREATS

In 1948 at West Japan Judo Championship, Kimura went up against Yoshimatsu. Yoshimatsu was 5'11" (180 cm) and weighed 250 lbs (115 kg). Future three time All Japan Champion in 1952, '53, '55 was little challenge for Kimura. He defeated Yoshimatsu with Osoto-gari and Ippon-Seoi-nage, by Wazaris. Yoshimatsu later defeated future Olympic Champion, Anton Geesink, in 45 seconds with Uchimata in the 1956 1st Worlds Judo Championships. Anton from the Netherlands stood 6'7" (197 cm) and weighed 213-264 lbs (97-120 kg). He was World Champion in 1961 and 1965 and also won the Gold in the All Japan Championships in 1949.

At age 32 Kimura competed in the AllJapan Judo Championships for the last time. He won in the first round with Ude-garmai. In the next round he pinned Osawa with Kuzure-kamishiho-gatame. In the semi-finals, he won by decision with Ippon-scoi nage. His final opponent was Takahiko Ishikawa, 6th dan and rival. Kimura was more aggressive, doing all the attacking.

However after three overtimes with neither scoring at least a Wazari, Mifune (10th dan), the referee, declared both of them champions.

SAN BAI RO RIOKU-TRIPLE EFFORT

The secret to Kimura's success is called San Bai Ro Rioku. Under this belief, Kimura did 300 pushups daily in High School, In his University, Taku-Shoku, the number increased to 500. After obtaining his first victory, Kimura decided to start doing 1000 non-stop pushups to ensure his future victories. However, pushups was just a small part of Kimum's hard practices. During his prime, he practiced 4 times a day, at least 6 hours every day. He trained at Taku-Shoku University, Local Clubs, Kodokan, and Police Academies, Quite often he would practice against a tree, always at midnight. One instance, Wushi-Zima, a two time champion, was aroused by a commotion in the nearby woods. When he checked out the noise it turned out to be Kimura doing uchikomi against a tree. On another occasion when he observed Kimura's strangely improvised uchikomi, Wushi-Zima asked "Are you still trying to kill that tree?"





Video clip helio vs kimura
http://webhost.avint.net/munjudo/kimura_gracie1.mpg

[Ryu (non-working password]

Duch, now that was just a plain nice gesture!

Long live Kimura.


Ryu

[duchman]

Long live kimura!!

[Darren]

Damn,
Kimura was just like Sakuraba! Smiling and looking like he is having a blast...while he's schooling someone.

From everything I have ever seen, and no matter what is said, it really looked like Kimura was basically TOYING with Helio. Size difference or not, he really seemed to be in a different league.

[dan downard]

I was thinking the same thing.He looks just like Sak when he was looking at the ref waiting for the stoppage.

[Maxximus]

Gee, I would hate to be a Japanese guy in the Gracie Academy.

[sknydave]

I don't think they would have opened an academy in Japan if they hated Japanese people... lol

[Ryu (non-working password]

I think it was a joke

[Vitor29]

That was great except for one part:

"Although Kimura won the actual fight, it was acknowledged that Gracie had the greater fighting spirit and will."

Isn't that kind of playing down the fact that Kimura dominated and broke his arm? Sounds like line straight out of Rorion's little black book of propaganda "he lost but he was the better fighter", kinda the same crap they were saying when Sak whupped royce. How would one define "greater fighting spirit and will", Kimura was the one who toyed with Helio.

I thought Sak.'s dad beat Helio?

[duchman]

I like kimura a lot.Kimura is my hero

[Eazy-E]

Dutchman,

Great post!!

Does anyone know where I could get the tape of the entire fight? Has anyone seen it?

Is it really a domination for the whole fight? Does Helio mount any submission attempts? How does Kimura get through Helio's guard? How big was Helio at the time?

Were there any striking going on?

The Gracies brought in a coffin for Kimura?! THat is clever marketing or incredibly arrogant!!

E

[Chop Wisby]

bttt

[What's inside a girl?]

Enough of this recylced shite already. Please just link to bjj.org and save some bandwidth.

[Robbie]

Kimura kicked ass.