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Jacyntho Ferro

Mitsuyo Maeda's closest student and instructor in Belém, and, alongside Maeda, an early teacher of Carlos Gracie — a role historians still debate.

Biography

Jacyntho Ferro was an athlete in Belém before he was ever a jiu-jitsu instructor. According to one history site devoted to the sport's Brazilian pioneers, he had already competed as a cyclist, boxer, and weightlifter; a peer-reviewed academic history of the period, drawing on Belém newspaper archives, independently confirms only that he wrestled locally. By either account, he was among the earliest Brazilian civilians — rather than a police or military officer, as most of the sport's first Brazilian students were — to seek out training directly from a Japanese instructor, joining the dojo Mitsuyo Maeda had opened in Belém after setting up his practice there in October 1915. Ferro quickly became more than a student. Researchers working from separate sources — an academic study, a historian's interview, and a site devoted to the sport's early Belém years — independently describe him as the closest figure to Maeda in the dojo, carrying most of the actual teaching and running the school whenever Maeda traveled. When Maeda returned to Belém in the middle of 1922 after a long run of matches abroad, it was Ferro who rowed out into the harbor to meet him. No source describes him ever teaching anywhere beyond Maeda's academy in Belém. The Belém newspaper Estado do Pará reported that on June 19, 1920, Maeda formally raised five of his students — Ferro among them, alongside Guilherme de La-Rocque, Matheus Pereira, Waldemar Lopes, and Raphael Gomes — to "primeiro galão," or first rank. What that rank actually corresponded to in a modern belt system was never spelled out in the report, and the same five names later resurface, independently, as the only students of Maeda's a historian researching his Brazilian career could confirm he had actually taught. The Carlos Gracie question Ferro's clearest link to the wider history of Brazilian jiu-jitsu runs through Carlos Gracie. A peer-reviewed academic history of the sport's founding years states that the young Gracie's training in Belém, under Maeda and, in the historian José Cairus's words, "his local senior student Jacyntho Ferro," spanned no more than about three years. That is echoed from an entirely different direction by the Gracie family's own authorized biography, which records that a teenage Carlos trained for a time under Maeda's assistant Ferro before his family left Belém. How much of that training actually came from Ferro, rather than from Maeda directly, is where the record gets harder to pin down. A Belém newspaper item from June 1921 named Donato Pires dos Reis and an "Oscar Gracie" — a name that appears nowhere else in the family's history — as "students of Professor Jacyntho Ferro," set to give a jiu-jitsu demonstration. The site Simon BJJ and, independently, the historian Robert Drysdale have both read "Oscar" as an editorial slip for Carlos, and concluded the notice places him under Ferro's instruction specifically rather than Maeda's. But the same academic chronology that documents Ferro's role in Carlos's training also dates the Gracie family's move from Belém to Rio de Janeiro to 1919–1920, apparently before that 1921 item was published — a discrepancy none of the sources consulted here resolves. A decade later, in 1931, ahead of a challenge match, Donato Pires dos Reis himself told the press that Carlos's own public claim to have trained directly under Maeda was false. Ferro died in 1929. The historian Robert Drysdale says news of his death reached the press as far away as Rio de Janeiro. Decades on, in 1978, the Amazonian press was still calling him Maeda's "aluno predileto" — his favorite student.

Sources for this profile

  • Simon BJJ, "Carlos Gracie's instructor, Jacyntho Ferro", simonbjj.com/ferro(opens in a new tab)

    • Ferro had a sporting background in cycling, boxing, wrestling and weightlifting before turning to jiu-jitsu.

      Where in the source: He had a background in cycling, boxing, wrestling and weightlifting.

      Accessed:

    • Ferro had a role as senior student or assistant instructor and was the primary instructor at Maeda's school while Maeda was away; when Maeda returned from a 1922 trip abroad Ferro rowed out to formally welcome him back.

      Where in the source: he had a role as senior student or assistant instructor and was the primary instructor at Maeda's school while the master was away

      Accessed:

    • On June 19, 1920, Maeda formally promoted five students -- Guilherme de La-Rocque, Matheus Pereira, Waldemar Lopes, Raphael Gomes and Jacyntho Ferro -- to a 'first rank' ('primeiro galao'), an event reported by the newspaper Estado do Para. What exactly the rank meant (first kyu, shodan/black belt, or simply a diploma) is not established by the source.

      Where in the source: formally promoted five students to "first rank" on June 19, 1920

      Accessed:

    • Conflicting accounts

      An Estado do Para article of June 26, 1921 reported that at a jiu-jitsu show at Campo da Recreativa in Belem, Professors 'Conde Koma' (Maeda), Matheus Pereira and Jacyntho Ferro would be present, and that Donato Pires dos Reis and 'Oscar Gracie' -- described as students of Professor Jacyntho Ferro -- would perform a demonstration.

      Where in the source: Donato Pires dos Reis and Oscar Gracie, students of Professor Jacyntho Ferro, would be performing a demonstration of Jiu-Jitsu.

      Accessed:

    • Ferro died in 1929, only a few years after the events described above.

      Where in the source: Jacyntho died only a few years later in 1929.

      Accessed:

    • Ferro was Brazilian, one of the first Brazilian civilians (as opposed to military/law-enforcement personnel) to formally seek out jiu-jitsu training from a Japanese master.

      Where in the source: one of the first Brazilian civilians to seek out

      Accessed:

    • Ferro was based in Belem, in the Brazilian Amazon (Para), where Maeda set up his base of operations in October 1915 -- South America.

      Where in the source: set up a base of operations in Belem, northern Brazil in October 1915

      Accessed:

  • Jose Cairus, "Modernization, nationalism and the elite: The Genesis of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, 1905-1920", Revista Tempo e Argumento, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 100-121 (2011), footnote 86(opens in a new tab)

    • An academic historian independently describes Ferro as a wrestler who joined Maeda's dojo in Belem.

      Where in the source: Jacyntho Ferro was a local wrestler who joined Mayeda's dojo.

      Accessed:

    • Cairus's academic research states directly that Ferro became Maeda's chief instructor in Belem.

      Where in the source: He became Mayeda's chief instructor in Belem.

      Accessed:

    • When Maeda returned to Belem in triumph in July 1922 after his last international matches, his pupil Jacyntho Ferro welcomed him in a small boat off the harbor.

      Where in the source: His pupil Jacyntho Ferro welcomed his master in a small boat off the harbor.

      Accessed:

    • Carlos Gracie's apprenticeship in Belem was under both Maeda and, in Cairus's words, Maeda's 'local senior student Jacyntho Ferro'; the whole apprenticeship (i.e. training with both men) lasted no more than about three years.

      Where in the source: The young Gracie's apprenticeship under Mayeda, and his local senior student Jacyntho Ferro, lasted no more than three years.

      Accessed:

    • Conflicting accounts

      Cairus's academic chronology places the Gracie family's departure from Belem at 1919-1920: Carlos Gracie himself said in a 1981 interview that his family left Belem when he was 17, and his grandfather Pedro (Peter) McNichols Gracie died on February 13, 1921 -- around the time of or shortly after the family's move to Rio.

      Where in the source: The Gracies' trajectory in the Amazon ended between 1919 and 1920.

      Accessed:

  • BJJ Heroes, "Robert Drysdale On The First 5 Brazilians Promoted By Mitsuyo Maeda" (interview)(opens in a new tab)

    • BJJ historian Robert Drysdale states that of Maeda's five promoted Brazilian students, only Ferro is known to have taught, and that Ferro was Maeda's right-hand man who did most of the actual teaching.

      Where in the source: Everything we have from that period seems to indicate that Ferro was Maeda's right-hand man, and was doing most of the teaching

      Accessed:

    • Drysdale states there is no evidence Ferro ever taught anywhere outside Maeda's club in Belem, and that Ferro was an acclaimed athlete (weightlifter and cyclist among other pursuits) even before his time under Maeda.

      Where in the source: There is no evidence currently available of Ferro having taught anywhere outside of Maeda's club in Belem.

      Accessed:

    • Ferro died in 1929; his death was reported by the press as far away as Rio de Janeiro, which Drysdale offers as a measure of his standing.

      Where in the source: His death in 1929 was remembered by the press in a place as far as Rio de Janeiro

      Accessed:

    • As late as 1978, decades after his death, the local Amazonian press referred to Ferro as Maeda's favorite student ('aluno predileto').

      Where in the source: the local Amazonian press referred to him as Maeda's favorite student ("aluno predileto") as far as 1978.

      Accessed:

  • BJJEE (Bjj Eastern Europe), "The Lost Legend of Jacyntho Ferro, One of Carlos Gracie Sr.'s Jiu-Jitsu Instructors", Nov 5, 2020, quoting Robert Drysdale(opens in a new tab)

    • Robert Drysdale states that Maeda can be verified to have taught (and, per c7, promoted) five specific Brazilians: Jacyntho Ferro, Waldemar Lopes, Raphael Gomes, Guilherme DelaRocque and Dr. Matheus Pereira -- as distinct from other claimed Maeda students (e.g. Carlos Gracie, Luis Franca) whose direct instruction by Maeda he says is not conclusively evidenced.

      Where in the source: We know for a fact that he taught Jacyntho Ferro, Waldemar Lopes, Raphael Gomes, Guilherme DelaRocque and Dr. Matheus Pereira because we can verify these relationships quite easily.

      Accessed:

  • Wikipedia contributors, "Carlos Gracie", section "Early career", citing Reila Gracie, Carlos Gracie: The Creator of a Fighting Dynasty (RG Art Publishing, 2013)(opens in a new tab)

    • Even the Gracie family's own authorized account (written by Carlos Gracie's daughter Reila Gracie) states that as a teenager Carlos took classes under Maeda and his assistant Jacyntho Ferro, albeit only briefly, before his family relocated to Rio de Janeiro.

      Where in the source: he allegedly started taking classes under Maeda and his assistant Jacyntho Ferro, albeit for a short time

      Accessed:

    • In August 1931, ahead of a challenge match against wrestler Manoel Rufino dos Santos, Carlos Gracie's teacher Donato Pires dos Reis publicly stated through the press that Carlos's claim to be a direct apprentice of Mitsuyo Maeda was false.

      Where in the source: Carlos's teacher Donato Pires said through the press that Gracie's claims to be a direct apprentice to Mitsuyo Maeda were false

      Accessed:

  • BJJEE (Bjj Eastern Europe), "Who Was Oscar Gracie? Find Out In The Closed Guard: The Origins of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil Documentary", May 30, 2020, quoting/paraphrasing Robert Drysdale's article on global-training-report.com(opens in a new tab)

    • Conflicting accounts

      Independently of Simon BJJ, Robert Drysdale's own research identified the same Belem newspaper item naming a Jiu-Jitsu match between Donato Pires dos Reis and 'Oscar Gracie', students of 'Professor Jacintho Ferro', and concluded this was the first documented mention of a 'Gracie' in relation to jiu-jitsu and that 'Oscar' was almost certainly an editorial error for Carlos Gracie (no Oscar existed in that generation of the family).

      Where in the source: between Mr. Donato Pires dos Reis and Mr. Oscar Gracie, students of the Professor Jacintho Ferro.

      Accessed:

Research

Genealogy and source research: Josh Simon, simonbjj.com(opens in a new tab)

Lineage

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Trained under

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