MESTRE PASTINHA
メストレ・パスチーニャ
Mestre Pastinha
Vicente Ferreira Pastinha
(April 5, 1889 – November 13, 1981)
Mestre Pastinha is widely recognized as the most emblematic figure in the formation and systematization of Capoeira Angola.
Born on April 5, 1889, in Salvador, Bahia—just one year after the abolition of slavery in Brazil (1888)—Vicente Ferreira Pastinha was the son of José Pastinha, a Spanish merchant, and Raimunda dos Santos, an Afro-Brazilian woman. Although slavery had been legally abolished, Brazilian society still bore deep marks of racial discrimination and poverty affecting Afro-descendant communities. Like many others of his time, he had limited access to formal education and grew up in harsh social conditions.
As a child, he was repeatedly assaulted on his way to school by an older boy named Honorato. Witnessing this, an elderly African-descendant man and former slave named Benedito approached young Pastinha and began teaching him Capoeira.
“Never confront someone bigger than you head-on. I will teach you the art.”
This encounter changed the course of his life. Later, Pastinha would recount that Capoeira enabled him to defend himself. This story symbolizes how Capoeira was not merely a fighting system, but a strategy of survival for the oppressed.
From age twelve to about twenty, he served in the Brazilian Navy. Later, he worked as a painter, musician, carpenter, shoeshiner, and newspaper vendor. He was not simply a fighter, but also a cultured individual with artistic sensibility and philosophical depth.
The Systematization of Capoeira Angola
In the early 20th century, Capoeira was still affected by its former criminalization. From the 1930s onward, however, it underwent processes of modernization and sportification. In particular, the creation of Capoeira Regional by Mestre Bimba marked a significant step toward social recognition.
At the same time, older traditional practices risked being lost. Pastinha gathered the knowledge and practices of elder masters in Bahia and clearly articulated the value of Angola.
In 1941, he founded the Centro Esportivo de Capoeira Angola (CECA) in the Pelourinho district of Salvador, where he systematically taught Capoeira Angola. The black and yellow uniforms were inspired by the team colors of the local football club Esporte Clube Ypiranga, which he supported.
CECA was not merely a training academy but also functioned as a cultural salon. Writer Jorge Amado, sculptor Mario Cravo Jr., and painter Carybé were among its visitors, contributing to Capoeira’s recognition as an artistic and cultural expression. His name was also mentioned in the 1972 album Transa by Caetano Veloso.
Philosophy and Thought
In 1964 (often cited as the mid-1960s), he published the book Capoeira Angola, in which he framed Capoeira not as a violent technique, but as a bodily culture grounded in intelligence, strategy, and ethics.
He clearly rejected meaningless violence.
For him, Capoeira was not “the art of destroying an opponent,” but “the art of avoiding danger, engaging in dialogue, and preserving dignity.”
For Pastinha, Angola encompassed:
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Malícia (strategic cunning)
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Calmness
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Rhythm and harmony
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Non-violence
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Respect for ancestors
In 1966, he participated as a member of the Brazilian delegation in the First World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal, presenting Capoeira within the broader international context of African diaspora culture.
Later Years
In 1973, the CECA building was confiscated by local authorities, and he lost his training space. Despite growing cultural recognition, he received insufficient financial support and lived his later years in poverty.
On November 13, 1981, having lost his eyesight, he passed away in Salvador under the care of his wife.
Direct Disciples and Legacy
Among his most renowned direct students were:
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Mestre João Pequeno (1917–2011)
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Mestre João Grande (1933– )
Mestre João Grande later spread Angola in New York, United States, playing a major role in its international transmission.
Our Lineage
The mestres of our group, Grupo Nzinga, studied through the activities of Grupo de Capoeira Angola Pelourinho (GCAP) under:
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Mestre Moraes
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Mestre Cobra Mansa
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Mestre João Grande
Today, we continue our activities as part of a lineage grounded in Mestre Pastinha’s thought, philosophy, and ethical vision, preserving its spirituality and ancestral foundations.
PHILOSOPHY & WORDS
メストレ・パスチーニャの言葉・思想
"Angola, capoeira, mãe"
“Angola, capoeira, mother.”
(— The source of all things, that which gives birth to and nurtures us.)
"Capoeira de Angola é mandinga de escravo em ânsia de liberdade. Seu princípio não tem método e seu fim é inconcebível ao mais sábio capoeirista."
“Capoeira Angola is the mandinga of an enslaved person yearning for freedom.
Its beginning has no fixed method, and its end is inconceivable even to the wisest capoeirista.”
(Mandinga: a concept encompassing spirituality, cunning, strategy, and the wisdom of survival.)
"A Capoeira é mandinga, é manha, é malícia. Capoeira é tudo que a boca come"
“Capoeira is mandinga, it is craftiness, it is malícia.
Capoeira is everything the mouth consumes.”
(Here, “everything the mouth consumes” metaphorically means the entirety of lived experience — life itself.)
"O berimbau é a alma da capoeira"
“The berimbau is the soul of capoeira.”
"Cada um é cada um. Ninguém joga do meu jeito"
“Each person is their own person. No one plays the way I do.”
"Ninguém joga igual a mim, cada um joga do seu jeito".
“No one plays exactly like me; each person plays in their own way.”
"...capoeira é muito mais que uma luta, capoeira é ritmo, é música, é malandragem, é poesia, é um jogo, é religião..."
“…Capoeira is much more than a fight; it is rhythm, it is music, it is malandragem, it is poetry, it is a game, it is religion…”
(Malandragem: the social intelligence and survival wisdom of the marginalized.)
"Capoeirista não é aquele que sabe movimentar o corpo, e sim aquele que se deixa movimentar pela alma"
“A capoeirista is not one who knows how to move the body, but one who allows the body to be moved by the soul.”
"Capoeira só é a Capoeira quando não se rótula..."
“Capoeira is only Capoeira when it is not labeled.”
"Eu sou como uma aranha que tece sua teia para viver. Não tenho nada contra ninguém, apenas teço minha teia."
“I am like a spider that weaves its web in order to live.
I have nothing against anyone — I simply weave my web.”
"Quando dois camaradas estão se exibindo na roda, é uma demonstração, sem rivalidade, pois
o público não quer ver sangue, e sim evoluções; o capoeira deve ser calmo, tranquilo e calculista"
“When two comrades display themselves in the roda, it is a demonstration, without rivalry.
The audience does not want to see blood, but evolution.
The capoeirista must be calm, tranquil, and calculating.”
"Preciso ter calma no jogo, ou seja, quando mais calma melhor para o capoeirista"
“One must have calmness in the game; the calmer one is, the better it is for the capoeirista.”
"O bom Capoeirista espera, o ambicioso agita-se e precipita-se, o famoso o povo lhe diz..."
“The good capoeirista waits.
The ambitious one becomes agitated and rushes ahead.
The truly renowned one — the people will tell you who that is…”
"O bom Capoeirista nunca se exalta, procura sempre estar calmo para poder refletir com precisão e acerto..."
“The good capoeirista never loses composure;
he always seeks calmness in order to reflect with precision and accuracy.”
"O capoeirista não deve ser afobado. O capoeirista não deve provocar, o Capoeirista não deve fazer certas coisas..."
“A capoeirista must not be reckless.
A capoeirista must not provoke.
There are certain things a capoeirista must not do.”
"A capoeira tem capricho, e tem sua explicação. Os capoeiristas não são bichos, e Pastinha tem razão. No meio da capoeira, com sua sabia vocação"
“Capoeira has refinement, and it has its reason.
Capoeiristas are not beasts, and Pastinha is right.
Within capoeira, through its wise vocation, one’s true calling is revealed.”
“O capoeirista para bater não precisa encostar o pé. Ele deve ter seu corpo freado, manejado para quando ele levar o pé e vir que o adversário não se defendeu, ele frear antes do pé encostar. Porque quem tá de parte vê que não bateu porque ele não quis. Então para bater não precisa dar pancada no adversário.”
“A capoeirista does not need to make contact in order to strike.
He must have his body restrained and controlled so that when he extends his foot and sees the opponent did not defend, he can stop before making contact.
Those watching from outside must see that he did not strike because he chose not to.
To strike does not require hurting the opponent.”
"Capoeira é amorosa, não é perversa. Ela é um hábito cortês que criamos dentro de nós, uma coisa vagabunda."
“Capoeira is loving, not perverse.
It is a courteous habit we cultivate within ourselves — a free-spirited, wandering thing.”
"Antigamente o Capoeirista se prestava tudo. Hoje, muito me admiro a ver Capoeiristas se prestar em certas coisas."
“In the past, a capoeirista would dedicate himself to everything.
Today, I am often surprised to see capoeiristas dedicating themselves to certain things.”
DOCUMENTARY FILM
メストレ・パスチーニャのドキュメンタリー映像（日本語訳付き）