Biography
Saku Miura, known by his ring name Sada Miyako, was born in Ehime Prefecture, Japan in 1881. He arrived in Rio de Janeiro on December 16, 1908, aboard the Brazilian Navy ship Benjamin Constant — six years before Mitsuyo Maeda. He was contracted by the Brazilian Navy to teach jiu-jitsu to officers at Fortaleza de Villegagnon from 1909 to 1912. On May 1, 1909, he suffered a devastating knockout loss to capoeirista Cyriaco Francisco da Silva via the 'Rabo de Arraia' kick — widely considered the first professional vale tudo fight in Brazilian history. After his reputation declined, he relocated to São Paulo and became president of the Japanese-language newspaper Nippaku Shimbun Sha in 1919. His anti-authoritarian editorials led to his deportation from Brazil in 1939. He returned to Japan and died in 1946.