WHAT IS JEET KUNE DO?

WHAT IS JEET KUNE DO?

By Paul Bax

Ah, the question martial artists have been asking since 7/20/1973: What is Jeet Kune Do? Readers of Bruce Lee’s own writings often find themselves asking this question despite reading various other articles and books on this very subject. Is Jeet Kune Do an actual art? Is it merely a concept that can be applied to all arts? Or is it merely a set of principles that can be used by any one physically, no matter what their chosen style is? Rather than speculate, let’s go directly to the source: the students of Bruce Lee himself!

In this article, I will compile various statements from Bruce Lee’s actual students their opinions on Jeet Kune Do.

Let’s start with the now deceased, Taky Kimura, Bruce Lee’s first official instructor.

How do you view Bruce Lee’s art of Jeet Kune Do?

TK: Well, I think he certainly has to be given credit for revolutionizing the whole industry of the martial arts. During the late fifties and early sixties there was a lot of mysticism in terms of the martial arts. A lot of the stuff you saw was classical motions and forms and those kinds of things. Again, I don’t say this to try to put anybody down or minimize the value of it in terms of the total goal of where you’re going. Bruce had his own way of doing things, and I just feel very honored that I was one of the guys that got to know him as well as anybody did.

Did you actually see Jeet Kune Do?

TK: I guess I can say that I was the only guy in Seattle that really saw the stages of Jeet Kune Do that he was into whenever he came up here. At that point he wasn’t teaching anybody. He would teach me privately different things he was doing. I guess I can say I was the only guy he kept pace at the level he was in when he came up here. It’s a very confusing thing. Everybody looks at JKD and tries to say what it is.

Do you think there was an actual system of Jeet Kune Do?

TK: Here’s my viewpoint: if you want to compare it to a sculptor that takes a piece of clay and ends up with a beautiful art object, then he’s casting off these little pieces of clay that aren’t necessary, but in order to get to that beautiful sculpture you will still have to know how he got there. So, yes, I think there are pieces that need to be gone through to get up to that point.

Next up, is Bruce Lee’s deceased first student, Jesse Glover.

What are your thoughts on Lee’s Jeet Kune Do, and do you think Bruce would approve of the continuous adding on of arts?

JG: Well, in my mind, Bruce was Jeet Kune Do. I have never seen anyone else who could move like him. If anyone can do JKD, it’s Howard Williams from the Oakland period. Howard trained under Bruce and James Lee when he was a teenager, and JKD is all that he has done. He has good reflexes and is a powerful man. He can make Bruce’s stuff work. There aren’t many who can.

How do you view the concepts approach now being taken by the Los Angeles students of Bruce Lee?

JG: I don’t know exactly what they do, but I do know that without the development of adequate physical skills that no one can fight with concepts. The techniques and concepts that Bruce advocated later in his life were based on the early development of some very practical physical skills. Bruce could punch hard, kick hard and move very quick, but the thing that made him so effective was the fact that he was a natural counter mover. He could pick up potential movement before it happened. Many of his advanced concepts were based on this type of detection. The question is how much of his thinking at this stage of his development is transferable to the average person.

About the author: Paul Bax is a world-renowned author on Bruce Lee and the art of Jeet Kune Do.