Hiryu Niwa

Hiryu Niwa was born on July 17, 2001, in Hiroshima, Japan, and relocated to Yokohama with his family at the age of one — a city that would shape his entire formative journey. His path to jiu-jitsu opened naturally through his father, who took up the sport while Hiryu and his older brother, Reon Niwa, were still young children. The brothers regularly attended their father's training sessions at the local academy, and through those visits, a genuine curiosity for grappling began to take root.

In 2008, when the academy launched its dedicated kids' program, both Hiryu and Reon enrolled and formally began their martial arts journey side by side. Their early development unfolded under the guidance of João Paulo Kuraoka and João Carlos Kuraoka, who shepherded the brothers through the children's belt ranks up to blue belt. That foundational period established the technical discipline and competitive mindset that would define their careers in the years ahead.

A pivotal moment in Hiryu's development arrived in 2010, when he and Reon encountered Guilherme Mendes and Rafael Mendes at the Rickson Gracie Cup tournament in Japan. The brothers were immediately captivated by the Brazilian duo's technical brilliance and competitive excellence. As the Mendes Brothers rose to become two of the most celebrated athletes in the sport's history, Hiryu and Reon followed their careers closely and attended every workshop the pair conducted in Japan.

As their competitive commitment deepened, the brothers transitioned their training to Takamasa Watanabe, who guided their advancement through the upper colored belt ranks — awarding both Hiryu and Reon their purple and brown belts. In 2019, nearly a decade after that first encounter, Hiryu and Reon traveled to the United States to compete at the IBJJF World Championships. Though neither brother claimed the title, the experience proved transformative. Competing against the world's elite made clear that reaching the top of the sport demanded a fundamental shift in environment and training. With that conviction, the Niwa brothers paused their university studies and relocated to California, joining Guilherme Mendes' Art Of Jiu-Jitsu (AOJ) competition team — the culmination of an admiration nearly a decade in the making.

Training within the Art Of Jiu-Jitsu (AOJ) environment delivered the competitive results the Niwa brothers had sought. Hiryu's colored belt record reflected both the caliber of instruction and his own relentless refinement. He claimed gold at the IBJJF Pan Championship at purple belt in 2019 and again at brown belt in 2021, demonstrating consistency across multiple belt levels on one of the sport's most competitive stages. He added gold at the IBJJF American Nationals at brown belt in 2021, and reached the final of the IBJJF World Championship that same year, earning silver. The crescendo of his colored belt career came at the 2022 IBJJF World No-Gi Championship, where Hiryu captured the brown belt title — a performance that served as the direct precursor to one of the most meaningful moments of his athletic life.

On December 14, 2022, on the podium of that same event, Guilherme Mendes promoted Hiryu Niwa to black belt. The ceremony carried deep symbolic weight: administered by the man whose grappling had inspired the Niwa brothers as children in Japan, at the very site of his final colored belt victory. The promotion stood as a testament not only to competitive achievement, but to a decade-long journey of dedication to a singular vision.

Hiryu Niwa competes in the Peso Galo division — 57.50 kg / 127.0 lbs — one of the most technically demanding weight classes in competitive jiu-jitsu, where precision and efficiency are paramount. His transition to black belt competition signaled an immediate readiness for the elite level, highlighted by a runner-up finish at the IBJJF Pan Championship in 2023, where he reached the final against the division's best. Representing Japan on the international stage, Niwa carries a competitive identity forged across two countries and shaped by some of the most respected figures in the sport's history. Backed by the elite infrastructure and coaching environment at Art Of Jiu-Jitsu (AOJ), his black belt career stands on a foundation more than a decade in the making.