And second, to my wife, Vera, and my children, Lauren and Jonathan, who have supported me and been patient with me as I worked on the book. Much love to you all.
acknowledgments
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK Chris Kent, my teacher, mentor, and friend, for his invaluable instruction in the art of Jeet Kune Do over the years and for opening my eyes to my potential, using Bruce Lee’s art as a vehicle.
I would also like to express my thanks to various original students of Bruce Lee who have illuminated my understanding of Jeet Kune Do, namely, Bob Bremer, Richard Bustillo, Dan Inosanto, Pete Jacobs, Taky Kimura, Daniel Lee, Jerry Poteet, Patrick Strong, and Ted Wong. Thanks to second-generation instructors Cass Magda, Tim Tackett, and Dan Sullivan, who have also helped me in my journey.
Thanks also to Jeff Scharlin—my good friend, training partner, Jeet Kune Do brother, and a solid teacher in his own right—for his friendship, suggestions, and assistance in this project. His feedback and criticisms were very helpful.
I would also like to thank Jaimee Itagaki, photographer extraordinaire, for her keen eye and invaluable suggestions in taking the pictures for this book. Her professionalism and easy-going personality helped make the work so enjoyable.
Much appreciation goes to my students who assisted in the photographs for the book, namely, Andrew Kim, Luca Levorato, Jeff Ng, Moamer Qazafi, and Stanley Quon. Thanks also to my other students, who have contributed to my own growth. They are all helping to keep the Jeet Kune Do legacy alive.
part 1
introduction
THERE IS A JOKE that says, “If you ask ten different Jeet Kune Do instructors what Jeet Kune Do is, you will get ten different answers.” Another joke in the same vein asks, “How many Jeet Kune Do instructors does it take to screw in a light bulb?” Answer: “Five—one to screw in the light bulb, and four to tell him that he’s doing it wrong.”
What these bits of humor tell us is that there is wide disagreement about the nature of Jeet Kune Do. Some believe that it is basically a system with certain techniques and principles. Others think it is a philosophy, an approach to martial arts that helps each person develop his or her own style of fighting. As with many things, each interpretation has some truth to it.
However, to truly understand Jeet Kune Do, we must examine its roots; we must observe where it has been, as well as where it is today. In these beginning chapters, we will look at how Jeet Kune Do originated and developed. To assist us in our understanding, we will also examine the basic principles that constitute the framework of the art. Finally, we will consider the state of Jeet Kune Do today, in terms of some of the most prominent interpretations. Having this background will give us a good start in appreciating the different elements that make up Jeet Kune Do.
ALTHOUGH JEET KUNE DO is a young martial art, it generates more interest than many of its older counterparts. This is due, in large part, to the enigmatic life of its founder, Bruce Lee. We can safely say that Lee is so intertwined with the art that one cannot think of Jeet Kune Do without thinking of Bruce Lee. Therefore, to understand the history and development of Jeet Kune Do, we must examine the evolution of Lee himself as a martial artist.
Lee was born on November 27, 1940, in San Francisco, California. The following year, his family moved to the cramped, tropical environment of Hong Kong where he spent his childhood and teenage years growing up. Early on, Lee was exposed to taijiquan, an art practiced by his father. He also studied a little bit of Hung Gar, a southern style of gung fu (or kungfu). However, his primary formal gung fu training did not begin until his early teens, when he began learning Wing Chun, a close-quarters fighting style that emphasizes hand-trapping techniques. He studied for several years under the supervision of Yip Man, the head instructor of Wing Chun at his school.
Lee was obsessed with Wing Chun and practiced frequently. While other students were content to learn the art as a sport, Lee was interested in learning how to fight. He and other students engaged in several sparring matches with people from outside the school, quickly gaining a formidable reputation. This emphasis on practical, street-oriented testing would later play a major role in the creation of Jeet Kune Do.
During this time, Lee examined other gung fu styles. He also practiced dancing and became the cha-cha champion of Hong Kong. The knowledge that he gained from these experiences served as a reservoir of material when he developed his approach to martial arts.
At age eighteen Lee reached a turning point in his life. A rather poor student, he had little prospect of acceptance into college. Also, when he injured someone during a street fight, the parents of the victim lodged a complaint with the local police. Lee’s parents, worried about his future, literally shipped him off to the United States so that he could be away from the violent environment and also reclaim his American citizenship. So, in 1959 Lee returned to the place of his birth, San Francisco. After a short stay he relocated to Seattle, Washington, where he enrolled in the Edison Technical School and worked at a local restaurant owned by a family friend.
While attending high school, Lee continued to practice Wing Chun. Jesse Glover, a fellow student at Edison, used to watch Lee as he executed his techniques. Suitably impressed, Glover decided to make friends with the young man so he could learn from him. Lee began to share some of his knowledge with Glover. Glover introduced other friends to Lee, and it was not long before Lee had gathered a small group of followers, eager to learn this little-known and intriguing art. With no kwoon (school, or training place) readily available, Lee taught his students wherever there was space, including parking lots and outdoor parks.
At first, Lee faithfully taught Wing Chun as he had learned it. However, as he worked out with different students, he discovered that some of the classical techniques did not work as well in his new circumstances, particularly against the larger American students. This situation compelled Lee to make modifications to his techniques. The changes he made were extensive enough that he no longer felt comfortable calling his art “Wing Chun.” Instead, he eventually renamed it Jun Fan, using his own Cantonese name.
Lee graduated from Edison Technical School and enrolled at the University of Washington, where he majored in philosophy. He was deeply fascinated with Chinese philosophy, especially as it related to gung fu. Some of Lee’s students—now including Taky Kimura, who later became his best friend and assistant instructor—encouraged him to start a school and to charge for lessons, so that he would not have to continue doing menial work. As a result, Lee established what would be the first Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute at the University of Washington, where he taught his modified form of Wing Chun.
In 1964, after getting married, Lee and his new bride moved to Oakland, California, to live with James Lee, an active gung fu practitioner whom he had met several years earlier. Over the years Lee and James developed a strong friendship. James became fascinated with Lee’s incredible speed and power, and endeavored to learn his system of gung fu. At the same time Lee was impressed with James’s accomplishments in weight training, and James introduced him to many of the concepts that Lee later incorporated into his own development. Together, Lee and James decided to establish a second Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Oakland. Admission to the Institute was highly selective, and only the most serious candidates were allowed to train in Jun Fan.
Some members of the gung fu community in nearby San Francisco became