What do you think of this description??

[swan104]

What do you think of this description of JKD from another site?

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Probably the MOST influential man in Martial Arts history was Bruce Lee. This man is a legend and hero to many people including myself. Many people have said that they have started their training because of this man. In order to tell you about Jeet Kune Do, I must first give you some background on it. There is a lot of history on the man himself, which I will not go into. You find out more about him here. Bruce Lee was the founder of Jeet Kune Do. He first studied Wing Chun (a very effective Kung Fu Style), under Yip Man (founder of Wing Chun). After he moved to America from China, he started to realize that his art as well as others had flaws. This started after he fought a very talented Kung Fu practitioner. So, what Bruce Lee did was basically cross-train. He started to incorporate and study other martial arts and techniques. He took what did work from these styles and threw away what did not. Jeet Kune Do itself is not a art, it is comprised of concepts and is not way limiting whatsoever. Anyone can train in JKD concepts. The main book of JKD is called the Tao of Jeet Kune Do. It is a collection of writings, notes, theories, drawing, and philosophies put together by Linda Lee (Bruce Lee's wife) after Bruce Lee's death. Some of the concepts and arts that Bruce Lee developed in Jeet Kune Do are:

Boxing: He liked the foot work and hand techniques of boxing.
Boxing is often referred to as the sweet science. Jeet Kune Do incorporates many of the strike

Judo: Judo is one of the most widely practiced Martial Arts and is known for it's throws. Jeet Kune Do uses some of these throws and concepts of an opponent's balance.

Wrestling: Wrestling has some great takedowns, Jeet Kune Do incorporates some of these.

Karate: Back when Bruce Lee was alive Chuck Norris was quite popular and known for his kicks. He trained with Bruce Lee and worked with him on his kicking.

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Steven

[Lost Ronin]

How ya doing swan. Hey man I like it, but I have to point out a few mistakes in that thread. First off, Yip man was not the founder of Wing Chun Kung Fu, he was probably the most recognized propagator of the style but he was not the founder. Wing Chun was founded by a Shaolin nun named Ng Mu who was one of the temple elders at Shaolin temple. She taught her art to a young woman named Yim Wing Chun and you know, somehow the style made it's way into the twentieth century. Also, Chuck Norris was a student of Bruce Lee, as was Joe Lewis, another famous karate champion. But I don't doubt that bruce probably picked up something from Norris. And, the Tao of JKD was a compilation of Bruce's works in which Dan Inosanto, Ted Wong and other top students and friends of Bruce helped piece together, Linda's help was invaluable though. Overall, pretty good description, a couple of innacuracies though.

[dragonboy]

thats pretty good, but you forgot " western fencing" it was an important part in "Bruces" JKD. its the (footwork, hand before foot concept, and parrying).

[swan104]

The reason I posted it was because I read so many descriptions of JKD. I think it's hard to define what JKD is to someone that knows nothing about it, such as a non-martial artist.

When my friends ask me what I do, I just say, "martial arts". The reason for that is because I can't be bothered to explain the philosophy to someone that has no interest in the martial artsi n the first place. If they ask further questions, then I'll expand on it.

Some descriptions are ok, and some are really inaccurate. I personally think this description could do with a lot more research, such as the "Chuck Norris" thing. I believe the inverted hook kick was concepted by Bruce after observing Chuck do a crescent kick, and believed he could do it a lot more efficiently.

I just don't like it when descriptions talk about JKD being a mixed martial art, where Sifu Bruce pick n' mixed bits and pieces from different systems.

Steven

[dragonboy]

I agree

swan...i agree. i have read alot of posts or descriptions of jkd that are like....where did this person get that info. yeah i agree jkd is not a mixed soup of things bruce made. as for Chuck....well bruce modified everything to fit "HIM". he kicked and punched his way. dan(inosanto) even said that if he showed bruce something, bruce would modify it and come up with a bunch more variations on it,....a true genious. its impossible to describe, or explain jkd to a non martial artist, its like talking carpentry to a cook. true...? take care, keep blastin.

[auto]

The whole lot of you are pretty much correct about the post. The Tao was actually written while Bruce was hurt and unable to move. It was suppose to span seven or eight volumes but was never completed. Linda and the rest TRIED to piece it together the best they could. John Little found more notes and pieced those together to help fill in some of the gaps left behind in the Tao. The kicking Bruce borrowed from the Northern styles of gung fu and also from one of his best friends Joon Rhee(TKD). Chuck himself said during an interview, that while he was training with Bruce, he told him he should use high flashy kicks in his movies to make them more exciting. Dragon was also correct about the fencing. Bruces brother was a fencer and he borrowed a lot of concepts from it(especially 'non telegraphic' movement). His jab was picked up from Muhamed Ali whom he loved to watch tapes of over and over. When he fought Wong Jack Man(the talented kung fu practitioner) he was already using his own modified version of Wing Chun and got angry because the fight took too long and he was "winded" after the fight. James Lee got him into weightlifting, Dan got him into using the nunchuka and the kali sticks in his movies, he trained somewhat with Gen Labell(the wrestler) and one of his best freinds was Judo champion of the world at the time(I forget his name,sorry). Joint locks were borrowed from aikido. Grappling was learned from jujitsu,judo and wrestling. Footwork was borrowed and modified from boxing and fencing. Bruce also had an extensive library of about two thousand of books on practically every fighting art known to man along with physical conditioning. He would run into used book stores and buy any book he found related to combat(books that cannot be found anywhere these days).
Whenever Bruce found something he liked, he would modify it to make it more efficient/effective and see if it had practical use, if not , out the door it went. Most of this info I learned from my Si Fu Dan.