Luiz França

Luiz França Filho was a Brazilian martial artist and one of the primary founders of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.^[3] França was a student of Soshihiro Satake, Geo Omori, and Mitsuyo Maeda, from whom he learned Kodokan judo (known prior to 1925 as Kano jiu-jitsu).^[1][2] Luis was awarded a 10th degree black belt in BJJ by the Federação de Jiu-Jitsu Olimpico do Estado do Rio de Janeiro after his death^[4]

Biography

In 1916, França began training in judo/jiu-jitsu under Soshihiro Satake at his school in Atletico Clube Rio Negro in the city of Manaus. França would remain in Manaus for a year before moving to the city of Belem.^[1]

It was in Belem that França would begin training under Mitsuyo Maeda at the same time as Carlos Gracie, Donato Pires, Jacinto Ferro, and many others.^[2] After his time with Maeda, França moved to Sao Paulo where he continued his training under Geo Omori^[1] (who would later draw against Carlos Gracie in a grappling match).^[2][5]

After his stay in Sao Paulo, França would finally settle in outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, where he would begin teaching what he had learned to police officers, military servicemen, and especially the poor in the favelas. One of those men was a young Marine named Oswaldo Fadda, who would continue França's ideology of teaching jiu-jitsu to the poor, instead of only the middle and upper class of society.^[1][2]

References