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Capoeira At The Other End Of The World

Permalink | Posted in feature on Jul 10, 2002

BY YUKO MIKI - It's been over a century since the first Japanese immigrants arrived in Brazil to found what is now the world?s largest overseas Japanese community. Perhaps it was inevitable that the exchange of cultures that began then would eventually include the Afro-Brazilian art of Capoeira, given Japan's own rich tradition of martial and performing arts. Capoeira Regional may have been the introduction, but today an increasing number of Japanese capoeiristas are choosing to practice the form closer to its roots.

The tremendous growth of Capoeira Angola in Japan in recent years was

reaffirmed and bolstered by the first-ever visit of Mestre Cobra Mansa, President and Founder of the International Capoeira Angola Foundation (ICAF), in June 2003. Inviting Mestre Cobra Mansa was the Capoeira Angola Open Study Group, founded in the spring of 2002 in Tokyo, and co-headed by Kenji Shimada and Rahiem Burrell. Capoeiristas from all over Japan gathered in Tokyo over two weekends, attesting to the unity of the Japanese Capoeira community that made this event a great success.

Capoeira Angola has been enjoying a steady following in Japan for nearly seven years. The fledgling groups consisted of about five members in Tokyo, and five in Yokohama. Like many capoeiristas around the world, a majority of the earliest students first encountered the art as dancers and were not aware of its different styles. Some stumbled upon it while visiting New York and hearing about Mestre Joao Grande's academy. Whatever the introduction, the irresistible attraction of Capoeira Angola inspired many of these students to cross the ocean for months at a time to the United States and Brazil and study directly under the great masters, despite formidable linguistic and cultural barriers. Upon returning to Japan, some founded branches of their masters' schools. These include Mestre Joao Grande's Capoeira Angola Center in Yokohama, headed by Ichi Yokote, and Mestre Moraes' Grupo de Capoeira Angola Pelourinho, headed by Kenji Shibata. Through community outreach projects, special events, and active promotion, not to mention their genuine love for capoeira angola, the students have actively sought to increase awareness and membership over the years.

It was such a foundation, built by the Japanese angoleiros years of dedication, that enabled the angoleiro community to fulfill its long-standing wish to have their mestres visit Japan. In the Fall of 2001, Mestres Joao Grande and Moraes came for what was to a hugely successful, national tour of Japan. Their visit was followed in the Spring of 2002 by ICAF's Mestre Jurandir. Needless to say, the presence of the mestres in Japan contributed immensely to the growth of Capoeira Angola, attracting many new students in the process.

Students gathered from as far as Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, and Nagasaki, way out in Western Japan, for the opportunity to train and enjoy a game with one of Capoeira Angola's most renowned mestres. Gasps and cheers erupted as Mestre unleashed his mandinga in the roda. The packed events became an unforgettable experience for all the participants, whether they be older or newer students. "Each one of [mestre's] words were profound, and taught me many important lessons", said Ayaka, who has been training for a little over a year. "I was truly inspired to train harder and enjoy capoeira from the bottom of my heart." Another younger student, Masae, said she was impressed by Cobra Mansa's genuine love for and enjoyment of capoeira and would love to become a capoeirista like him. Mestre's visit provided encouragement to the older students as well. Kenji Shimada, co-head of the group that invited Mestre and a teacher of capoeira angola, remarked, "Cobra Mansa, my mestre, has been a very important person in my process of training capoeira, so inviting him to Japan was a big goal for me. I am very happy to have accomplished that, and that the event was successful, because everybody came together to make it happen. But things weren't always easy. I had a complex about being a Japanese person (a foreigner) practicing a Brazilian art. But Mestre gave me a lot of positive energy to keep it up. It may take time, but I would like to have capoeira angola grow here in Japan."

Perhaps surprisingly for someone who is constantly traveling around the globe, this was Mestre Cobra Mansa's first time in Asia. After a full ten days of workshops and rodas in a country thirteen hours ahead of his usual time zone, he graciously shared his thoughts on his visit to Japan. Although the interview focused on Japanese students , his words could reverberate with many capoeiristas around the world.

It's interesting to see a roda here look just like a roda in Bahia, with the same sort of climate, laughter, and mandinga. However, when you get down to the daily lifestyle, there is a slight difference because of the environment and the way people live in Brazil.

Yuko Miki: Mestre, thank you very much for everything. Could you share some of your overall impressions of your time here?

Mestre Cobra Mansa: It was very nice, my first time here. I was glad to see so many people with passion and an interest to learn come together and enjoy themselves. It makes me happy, and tells me I am going in the right way. I was especially glad to see people from so far away, traveling for nearly six hours just for one workshop. It makes me proud and happy to see people sacrifice so much to learn something. It?s very positive. But I also enjoyed my day off in the mountain hot springs - I haven?t had a day to relax for a long time in my life now!

Yuko Miki: We Japanese come from a very different background than Brazilians; i.e., we do not have African traditions. Do you think that gives unique qualities to the capoeira here, or do you believe capoeira has a unifying spirit anywhere one goes?

Mestre Cobra Mansa: When you go outside of Brazil, you find people trying to understand what capoeira is. But since it is different from their everyday life, some of them try to incorporate elements of capoeira and Brazil into their lives. It's interesting to see a roda here look just like a roda in Bahia, with the same sort of climate, laughter, and mandinga. However, when you get down to the daily lifestyle, there is a slight difference because of the environment and the way people live in Brazil. The good thing about people who have been there is that they bring that energy back to Japan, which makes a positive impact on everybody. I always tell everyone that - a capoeirista outside of Brazil should go to Salvador before he or she dies, or at least before he or she stops capoeira. It's like a Mecca! Most of the time, you think you're learning, but what a lot of what your mestre and other people tell you doesn?t make a lot of sense until you go down there and enter the environment. Then you get it, because the whole environment tells you how to do things.

Yuko Miki: There are a lot of new capoeiristas in Japan now. Should they all try and go?

Mestre Cobra Mansa: Yes, it is essential for you in order to better understand capoeira. It?s the same thing for a person studying karate or jujitsu - they should come to Japan, meet the mestres, and know the environment. It?s about your understanding. Perhaps you won?t become a better capoeirista, but you will have a better understanding of capoeira, because the tradition is right there, and when you go to the source, you understand what it is. Simple things will start to make sense to you.

Yuko Miki: Many of the older students who started Capoeira Angola have trained in Brazil. Do you think that has been important to the growth of Angola here?

Mestre Cobra Mansa: Yes! Because they bring the kind of energy that they see and feel in Brazil over here. And those who haven?t been to Brazil yet can have an understanding of what it is. Otherwise, it becomes an imitation. You cannot just imitate! You must reproduce it with your own feeling.

For instance, take somebody from here, an older student. If they go to Brazil now and start to play, and don't speak, people won't be able to tell the difference because their spirit makes them look like anybody over there. The big difference is that any student in Brazil has the opportunity to have more experience to play with different people than students here. That makes a BIG difference in malicia and malandragem, because those are gained when you have different kind of experiences with different people. In Salvador, it?s possible to go to four rodas in one day, and in each one you will find at least four to five different groups. That's a lot of experience! You can have the opportunity to play with almost a dozen people in one day, not just from your group, but from many different groups.

Yuko Miki: Do you have any specific hopes and dreams about capoeira in Japan in particular, on in general?

Mestre Cobra Mansa: People don't need to worry about what group they belong to, but just about being here in Japan, and that you must all get together and practice independently of your affiliations and grow together.

Yuko Miki: I think this kind of event was beautiful and powerful because all these different groups came together and made it happen.

Mestre Cobra Mansa: I feel happy about that, because it means people are starting to understand, and it is good to feel all this positive energy. And I feel happy that it was me who could help to do that!

Like any great master, Mestre Cobra Mansa gave the students here the dual gifts of inspiration and challenges. "Mestre was profoundly influential in the direction capoeira angola will take in Japan from now on", said Kenji, head of GCAP Japao. "Seeing him move, I realized there was a LOT of catching up to do. I do not want to be accused of lagging behind because we are far away from our masters. We cannot be easy on ourselves."

Rahiem, co-head of CASG and a student of Mestre Jurandir who began training in Seattle before moving to Japan, expressed his optimism that "these type of events will hopefully bring our community closer together. The dedication here is amazing. With the right direction from mestres [like Mestre Cobra Mansa], Capoeira Angola will be very strong here." He was especially struck by the fact that "we all received a lot of energy from Mestre Cobra Mansa, but a lot of Japanese capoeiristas also gave a lot of energy. We gave as much as we received, and that was really good."

Perhaps Satoko, an angoleira from Yokohama, said it best: "[Mestre's] visit was a great thing for everybody. But it all depends on what we are going to do from now on. Capoeira is to keep it up. So I will keep it up!"