His accomplishments led to him being called the "toughest man who ever lived" and being referred to as the father of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.

[3] Maeda was born in Funazawa Village, Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture, Japan, on November 18, 1878.

According to Koyasu Masao (9th dan): Among the four Kodokan shiten-no, it was Tomita who received the greatest amount of teachings from Kano Jigoro sensei ... as a fighter he wasn't so successful as Saigo, Yamashita and Yokoyama, but was exceptional in applied studies and was also fluent in the English language ...[1]Although the weakest of Kodokan Shitennō, Tomita was able to defeat the great jujutsu champion of that time, Hansuke Nakamura.

[1] With Soishiro Satake, Maeda formed the head of the second generation of Kodokan judoka, which had replaced the first by the beginning of the 20th century.

[5] Satake, at 175 cm and 80 kg, was unmatched in amateur sumo but admitted that he himself was not able to match Maeda in judo.

He reasoned that this behavior was a measure of respect towards his students, but it was often misunderstood and frightened many youngsters, who would abandon him in favor of other professors.

[10] In 1903, a senior Kodokan instructor named Yamashita Yoshitsugu traveled to the United States at the request of the Seattle businessman Sam Hill.

[11] Capitalizing on the publicity, the Japanese Legation to the United States asked the Kodokan to send more judo teachers to America, providing continuity to Yamashita's work.

[10] Tomita, Maeda, and Satake sailed from Yokohama on November 16, 1904, and arrived in New York City on December 8, 1904.

[12] On February 21, 1905, they gave a judo demonstration at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where Tomita and Maeda performed kata (patterns)—nage-no, koshiki, ju-no, and so on.

"[16] On March 21, 1905, Tomita and Maeda gave a "jiu-do" demonstration at Columbia University attended by about 200 people.

According to the student newspaper, "Another interesting feature was the exhibition of some of the obsolete jiu jitsu tricks for defense with a fan against an opponent armed with the curved Japanese sword."

[17] During April 1905, Tomita and Maeda started a judo club in a commercial space at 1947 Broadway in New York.

Members of this club included Japanese expatriates,[18] plus a European American woman named Wilma Berger.

[19] On July 6, 1905, Tomita and Maeda gave a judo exhibition at the YMCA in Newport, Rhode Island.

In a similar fashion to how the jujutsu pioneers in Europe did things, Maeda put on “all comers” matches against anyone willing to test their luck on stage.

[24] During September 1909, a Japanese calling himself Nobu Taka arrived in Mexico City for the purpose of challenging Maeda for what the Mexican Herald said would be the world jujutsu championship.

Said Lundin, "Having been accustomed to handling the big Greco-Roman wrestlers with ease, the Jap thought he could do likewise with me, but in the first encounter I got the better of him, after which my confidence returned.

"[29] In July 1910, Maeda returned to Cuba, where he tried to arrange matches with Frank Gotch and Jack Johnson.

[33] In 1913, Tokugoro Ito stayed in Cuba while Maeda and Satake went to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

In El Salvador, the president was assassinated while Maeda was there, and in Panama, the Americans tried to pay him to lose; in response, they kept moving south.

[4][34] According to Correio Paulistano Newspaper Maeda did a Judo demonstration at Teatro Variedades (Theatre) - Largo do Paissandu, Santos city at September 24, 1914.

The O Tempo newspaper announced the event, stating that Conde Koma would show the main jiu-jitsu techniques, excepting the prohibited ones.

After that, the troupe would be accepting challenges from the crowd, and there would be the first sensational match of jiu-jitsu between Shimitsu (champion of Argentina) and Laku (Peruvian military professor).

On the same day, Nagib Assef, an Australian Greco-Roman wrestling champion of Turkish origin, challenged Maeda.

On January 3, 1916, at Theatro Politheama, Maeda finally fought Nagib Assef, who was thrown off the stage and pinned into submission by arm-lock.

In 1991, the academy was located in the SESI and was run by Alfredo Mendes Coimbra, of the third generation of Conde Koma's descendants.

Alvarez defeated Satake and Yako Okura—the latter being billed as a former instructor at the Chilean Naval Academy—before being himself beaten by Maeda.

[41] In 1925, Maeda became involved with helping settle Japanese immigrants near Tome-açú, a Japanese-owned company town in Pará, Brazil.

[46] According to Renzo Gracie's book Mastering Jujitsu,[47] Maeda not only taught the art of judo (also known as "Kano-ryu jiu-jutsu" at the time) to Carlos Gracie, but also taught a particular philosophy about the nature of combat based on his travels competing and training alongside Newaza specialized jujutsukas like Sadakazu Uyenishi, Taro Miyake, catch-wrestlers, boxers, savate fighters, and various other martial artists.