Jeet Kune Do History - Jeet Kune Do Training
Jeet Kune Do History: literal meaning: "Way of the Intercepting Fist", also Jeet Kune Do or JKD, is the system based primarily on Chinese fighting martial arts developed by Bruce Lee.
This eclectic fighting system combines techniques taken from from other martial arts; the trapping and short-range punches of Wing Chun, the kicks of northern Kung Fu styles as well as Savate, some footwork found in Fencing and the techniques of Western Boxing, among others. It should be noted that JKD is not a hybrid system, rather, it is Bruce Lee's individual "interpretation" of the martial arts. Bruce Lee stated that it is not an "adding to" of more and more things on top of each other to form a system, but rather, a winnowing out. It can be compared to a sculptor carving the unnecessary elements from a block of material, until he has the form he wants. That is the image that Lee wanted to use to describe fighting Jeet Kune Do.
Jeet Kune Do is what was left at the time of Bruce Lee's death. It is the culmination the life long fighting martial art development process Lee went through. Jeet Kune Do was heavily influenced by western Boxing and Fencing (Bruce gave up on the more traditional Chinese fighting elements because he felt that they were only good at medium range, not at long range, where real fights often start; the result was that Bruce got rid of many of the kung fu/Wing Chun stances in favor of more fluid, flexible fencing and boxing stances. The idea is to flow, not to be stuck in stances, like older arts that Lee called the "classic mess". Some people however, believe that Lee did not totally give up Wing Chun in Jeet Kune Do.
Jeet Kune Do History not only combines some aspects of different styles, it also simplifies many of those aspects that it adopts. For example, Bruce Lee almost always chose to put his power hand in the "lead," with his weaker hand back, therefore he almost always used the right hand stance of Wing Chun in JKD and discarded the left hand and center stance. This is not the case in all modern branches of JKD, some follow the favored left hand forward stance of western Boxing.
Lee emphasized what he believed to be the combat effectiveness of JKD, and did not stress the memorization of kata or quan (the same word as the kune in Jeet Kune Do) solo training forms the way that most traditional styles do in their beginning level training. While practicing western wrestling moves, Lee was once pinned by a skillful opponent, who asked what Lee would do if he actually found himself in this situation. Lee replied, "Well, I'd bite you, of course." Lee's goal in JKD was to break down what he saw as limiting factors in the training of the traditional styles, and seek a fighting art which he believed could only be found in the event of a fight. JKD is nowadays seen as the first of the modern spate of mixed martial arts.
Bruce Lee's comments and methods were seen as quite controversial. Many teachers from traditional schools disagree with his opinions on these issues, especially seeing what Lee described as their lack of strategic flexibility due to "rote" teaching methods to be a misunderstanding on Lee's part. Most, if not all, traditional martial arts teachers say "fluid" strategy is a feature of martial training that is indeed addressed in the curricula of most traditional styles at advanced levels, when the students are ready.
JKD Branches
Although Bruce Lee officially closed his schools two years before his death. He allowed private teaching by his then current instructors. Since Bruce Lee's death, JKD has fractured into different groups. The main division can be split into two major branches:
> The Original/Jun Fan JKD branch
> The JKD Concepts branch
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