Despite the interest of the people of Ceará in the fights, several difficulties hindered the progress of Martial Arts in the State, one of the difficulties was the clothing used in training that came from outside and with that its price was very high, but the student Milton, as he was a tailor, offered to reproduce the KIMONO in exchange for the gym fees, the other worse difficulty was the lack of mats, as they were improvised with great creativity using sugarcane bagasse, cardboard or sisal covered by truck tarpaulins. Only some time later did some rice straw mats arrive in Ceará.

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   Here in Ceará in 1950, people already heard about a new mysterious art called Judo, which was practiced in the south of the country. The comments said that Judo practitioners could not be thrown to the ground, and with that, Jiu-Jitsu practitioners in our state were ironically wondering if judokas did not fall because their feet were too big, or because they had their feet nailed to the ground. . They didn't know that soon they would know one of the most complete Martial Arts.

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   Back in 1958, the door of the academy of prof. Nilo Veloso, a man who appeared to be 48 years old, saying that he was interested in participating in training, as he had come from a long stay in Rio de Janeiro where he had started in the art of Judo, as there was still no Judo academy here, he decided to look for a Jiu-Jitsu academy to continue their training in order to have a great similarity between the two.

 

   His name was Antônio Lima Aguiar, Cearense, who lived in Rio de Janeiro where he would have learned the Judo hitherto unknown in Ceará, it was of great interest on the part of the students of the academy that Mr. Antônio Lima participated in the training, because the same would know the new art, Mr. Antônio Lima made it very clear that he knew a lot about judo having practiced for a long time, but he had never graduated, because he had a disease in his leg that worsened every day before the exam for evaluation, thus preventing to be examined.

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   Mr. Antônio Lima stayed for two years in the academy of prof. Nilo Veloso passing on his knowledge in judo to the students of the same, until one day he decided to set up a shirt factory, but he was not successful in the new onslaught, and decided to return to Rio de Janeiro.

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   For a year, Jiu-Jitsu students perfected the techniques learned from Mr. Antônio Lima, until, in 1961, another Cearense who also resided in Rio de Janeiro arrived in Fortaleza. And by coincidence his name was Antônio Lima Filho, but he was not related to the previous one, Mr. Antônio Lima Filho was a student of Professor Augusto de oliveira Cordeiro, one of the pioneers of national Judo and the first president of the Brazilian Judo Confederation, in Rio he obtained the graduation of black belt NIDAN (2nd degree).

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   When Mr. Antônio Lima Filho arrived, many Jiu-Jitsu adepts still refused to accept the new fighting modality, as they contested its effectiveness, but in the course of training, Mr. Antônio Lima Filho demonstrated and proved the effectiveness of Judo. overlapping the Jiu-Jitsu athletes, in view of the fact that he is a member of the Carioca Judo team. With the passage of time, many Jiu-Jitsu adepts started to train Judo, because it became evident that in addition to being a Martial Art, Judo was wrapped in a philosophical, didactic, and moral principle and that its practice aimed not only at teaching fighting techniques and self-defense, but the formation of human character. Many Jiu-Jitsu athletes have proven this
in practice, as reported in this dialogue by two exponents of Jiu-Jitsu at the time:

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Once Prof. Maranguape invites Prof. Abdias to go train Judo:
- Abdias. Shall we go to Judo?
- Why Maranguape?
- Why? Why Judo is Jiu-Jitsu and a little more!

 

   Prof. Antônio Lima Filho remained for three (3) years at Prof. Nilo Veloso, during 1964 leaves the academy to set up his own academy specializing in Judo. In the same year, the 1st unofficial mixed Judo and Jiu-Jitsu championship is held in Ceará with the participation of Judo and Jiu-Jitsu athletes, despite the adversities the competition was successful.

 

   The 1st judoka promoted to black belt in Ceará was Mr. Milton Moreira in 1966, awarded by the then Ceará Pugilism Federation, an entity to which Judo was affiliated for not having its own federation.  In January 1967, the 2nd Judo academy of Ceará was inaugurated with the baptismal name of "Centro de Judô Cearense", the same belonging to Prof. Milton Moreira. With the opening of another academy, and with the considerable increase in practitioners, Judo was already taking root in our land, Judo now needed an entity that centrally organized the practice of Judo in Ceará. For this purpose, the most influential teachers and practitioners gathered to decide the foundation of the Ceará Judo Federation. The foundation of the same was made official on October 19, 1969, and from that date onwards to disassociate itself from the Ceará Pugilism Federation.

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   The new federation had as its 1st president Dr. Agamenon Magalhães Lawyer and volleyball player, later Dr. José Maria, who was also a Lawyer but did not practice any sport, took over the third to take over was Dr. Luiz Paiva who was a Doctor and Judoka, the latter only stayed in the position for six months, because his profession demanded a lot of his time, so he could not be present at the meetings, however, Dr. Luiz Paiva can be said that he was one of those who contributed the most to the aggrandizement of Judo in Ceará, several times taking money out of his own pocket to pay for the trip of Ceará athletes to a competition outside the state.

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   In the year the federation was created, the newly created entity held the 1st black belt exam in Ceará, where the following athletes were promoted: Hugo Hipardo, Mauri and Weligtom. Also in 1969, the first female athlete, daughter of Prof. Milton Moreira, Mrs. Francineide Frazão, currently a black belt, later in 1994, Mrs. Maria Helenira was promoted to 1st black belt in Ceará.

 

   In 1975, Prof. Antônio Lima Filho, remaining in office until 2000, Prof. Lima was awarded in 1999 by the then president of the Brazilian Judo Confederation, Mr. Joaquim Mamede, with the granting of his 9th DAN (KYU-DAN), becoming one of the very few Brazilians with this degree and the only one in the North-Northeast. .

 

   In 2001, Prof. Milton Nunes Moreira, during his administration, tried to work together with the entire board so that Judô Cearense returned to the hegemony of yore, since Ceará was one of the powers of the North-Northeast in past decades. This change began with the acquisition of new areas of synthetic mat, the purchase of its own headquarters, incentives for athletes from Ceará to participate in national competitions, etc. In 2004 the presidential elections were canceled by court order, and an interventor was later appointed, this period of judicial intervention ended in October 2011, when Átila Cardoso was elected as president (Nov/2011 to May/2014). In 2017, Mr. José Caldeira Cardoso Neto (2017 to 2020) assumes the presidency, requesting removal in early 2020, assuming Mr. José Marcelo Moreira Frazão. After holding the Electoral Assembly (2021-2025) the Ceará Judo Federation - FECJU, had as president Mr. José Marcelo Moreira Frazão, having died in 2021, currently assuming the presidency Mr. Amaurílio Marques Gomes in the management  (2021 to 2025).

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Text by Rafhael Sampaio Lopes - Godan Black Belt (5th Dan)

Contact:  sampaiorafhael@gmail.com