Maeda Kimonos

Mitsuyo Maeda, or Conde Koma as he was more popularly known, was born in 1878 and traveled the world perfoming demonstrations of "JuJitsu" to spread the knowledge of Kodokan Judo.

One day before his death in 1941, Maeda was promoted to 7th Dan in Kodokan Judo.

Maeda played a pivotal role in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as we know it today. In 1917, he performed a demonstration in Belem with a young Carlos Gracie watching from the audience. Carlos would go on to learn Jiu Jitsu from Maeda and then proceed to teach his brothers (Osvaldo, Gastão and Jorge) while the youngest brother, Helio, would watch as he was too sick to engage in the lessons.

Helio would later overcome his health issues and would go on to be what most consider the founder of what we call today, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Maeda was celebrated post mortem in 1956 in Hirosaki City, Japan, with a statue being erected in his honor.