Why do so many schools teach with a gi? The simple answer would be tradition but I want to know more. So I decided to go way back and find out how the use of the gi came to be.

I’ll start from the beginning. The term Jujutsu was created in the 17th century in Japan as a term for a variety of grappling-related disciplines. Originally Jujutsu systems were not systems of unarmed combat but combat methods that included striking, throwing, restraining and weaponry that allowed an unarmed or lightly armed samurai to fight a heavily armed and armored enemy on the battlefield. With time Jujutsu evolved and branched into many different styles and sport forms that were more focused on unarmed combat.

Judo was the first Japanese martial art to gain international recognition. The founder of Kodokan Judo Kanō Jigorō studied several forms of Jujutsu growing up and later stated that “By taking together all the good points I had learned of the various schools and adding thereto my own inventions and discoveries, I devised a new system for physical culture and moral training as well as for winning contests.” Kanō Jigorō is credited with developing a practice kimono called the keikogi (keiko meaning practice, gi meaning dress or clothes). The kiekogi is relevant to the everyday kimonos worn by the Japanese in the 19th century.

Kanō Jigorō would later send one of his five Judo experts Mitsuyo Maeda overseas to demonstrate and spread his style to the world. Maeda travelled to many places around the world displaying the art before landing in Brazil. It was in Brazil that he met Carlos Gracie, a troubled teenager that Maeda took under his wing and taught his style. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is largely identified with the Gracie family and the Gracie’s have been training in the gi ever since.

The Jiu Jitsu gi is similar to the Judo gi with a few slight differences. Jiu Jitsu regulations allow for tighter cuffs on the pants and jacket, and the skirt is shorter. This allows the practitioner to benefit from a closer fit, providing less material for an opponent to manipulate. Team, sponsor, and manufacturer’s patches are often more prominently displayed on a Jiu Jitsu gi than would be allowed in judo. A judo gi may be worn for BJJ tournaments, but a Jiu Jitsu gi will not meet guidelines for a judo tournament.

Jiu Jitsu is continuing to evolve and is being applied prominently in MMA where many gi techniques do not translate very well thus forcing competitors to focus on developing no-gi techniques; but, even the most vocal no-gi practitioners such as Eddie Bravo are black belts in the gi. So should you train in the gi? I would say the answer is up to you. Learn the classics or join the rebels evolving beyond the old-style “practice uniform?” I say both.

Ruben Rivera