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A Japanese judoist, prizefighter, and member of the Kodokan (later banned for his prizefighting activities) named Mitsuo Maeda emigrated to Brazil in the 1910s and was helped greatly by a Brazillian politician named Gastão Gracie. In return for his aid, Maeda taught Judo to Gastão's son Carlos, who then taught the art to his brothers, including Hélio Gracie . Through their own study and development, Carlos and Hélio are regarded as the originators of Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu as a style of distinct from Kodokan Judo.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu became internationally prominent in the martial arts community in the 1990s, when Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert Royce Gracie won several Ultimate Fighting Championships against experienced and much larger opponents using the style.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu inherited an emphasis on using off-balancing, leverage, and the opponent's own power, as well as a good deal of technique from Kodokan Judo, especially from the regional variant called "Kosen Judo", which emphasized ground grappling and was heavily influenced by Kito-ryu jujitsu.
Since that time there has been considerable divergence between Judo and Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu, although some argue that the difference is more in the culture and the moral goals of the arts than in the physical principles and techniques of the two arts. The main difference is that Judo emphasizes throws, while Jiu-Jitsu emphasizes submission. Judo does not allow leg-locks and also has a much higher amount of referee intervention during matches (the competitors are often returned to the standing position, while Jiu-Jitsu allows its participants to patiently work towards a submission).
Factors which contributed to the divergence include the Gracies' desire to create a national martial art, the influence of Brazillian culture, the non-participation of the Gracie schools in sport judo, the postwar closing of the Kodokan (which was only allowed to reopen on the condition that emphasis be shifted towards sport), as well as the Gracies' own additions to the body of technique and opinions regarding self-defense, martial arts and training methods, and, more recently, the influence of mixed-martial-art competitions such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu emphasizes ground fighting techniques and submission holds involving joint locks and chokeholds. The premise is that most of the advantage of a larger, stronger opponent comes from superior reach and more powerful strikes, both of which are largely negated if wrestling on the ground; and if either fighter wants the fight to go to the ground, it will. Once the opponent is on the ground, a number of maneuvers (and counter-maneuvers) are available to manipulate the opponent into suitable position for the application of a submission hold. This system of maneuvering and manipulation can be likened to a form of kinetic chess when contested between two experienced practitioners. A submission hold is the equivalent of checkmate.
Submission holds can be grouped into two broad categories. Joint locks and chokes. Joint locks typically involve isolating an opponent's limb and creating a lever with your own body position which will force the joint to move past its normal range of motion. Pressure is increased in a controlled manner and if the opponent cannot escape the hold then they may signal defeat by submitting. The commonly accepted form of submission is to tap the opponent, gym mat, or even yourself three times (verbal submission is also acceptable but less common).
Alternatively, one could apply a chokehold (or more accurately a strangulation), cutting off blood to the brain, causing unconsciousness if the opponent refuses to tap out. Most BJJ "chokes" involve constriction of the carotid artery. This differs from the more instinctive choking movements which generally involve constriction of the windpipe. Though this distinction may at first seem subtle it is in fact very significant (commonly referred to as "blood" and "air" chokes respectively). Air chokes are highly inefficient and may result in damage to the opponent's trachea, sometimes even resulting in death. Contrastingly, blood chokes directly cut the flow of blood off from the opponent's brain causing a rapid shutdown of consciousness without damaging the internal structure. Being "choked-out" in this way is actually relatively safe as long as the choke is released soon after unconsciousness, letting blood (and therefore oxygen) back into the brain before the damages of oxygen deprivation begin.
The prevalence of the dangerous "air" chokes has actually led to the banning of chokeholds from some United States police departments. Because of the negative legal connotations of the words choke and even strangulation one is advised to use the term "lateral vascular restraint" when describing a blood choke used in a self-defense situation.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu's emphasis on joint locks and maneuvering rather than strikes means that one's technique can be practiced at full speed and full power, identical to the effort and technique used in a real fight. Training partners can resist and counter just as they would in an actual fight, providing valuable real-world experience should the techniques ever need to be applied in an actual fight. This practice of live training, officially called Randori but commonly known as "rollling" in BJJ circles, is considered by many BJJ practitioners to be the major factor differentiating combat sports (ex. BJJ, Judo, Boxing, Wrestling) from traditional martial arts (ex. Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Akido).
In modern times, many forms of sport fighting have come into vogue. During competition, these styles award points for attacking with certain techniques. For example, a competitor may be awarded 2 points for kicking his or her opponent in the body and 3 points for kicks delivered to the head. Coinciding with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu's considerable surge in popularity, many tournaments now disallow striking in favor of grappling. The rules for these contests reward points to a competitor that has obtained a position considered to be advantageous. In the event that no combatant was submitted outright, the winner will be determined by these points. Such rules help to avoid the stalemates often seen in judo when contestants go to ground.
The main emphasis in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is to dominate the opponent through skillful application of technique and force them to quit (submit). By using the techniques of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a smaller practitioner, male or female, can control much larger and stronger opponents and actually force that larger opponent to submit.