Jeet Kune Thu

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Jeet Kune Do , JKD for short ( Chinese  截拳道 , Pinyin Jiéquán dào , Jyutping Jit 6 kyun 4 dou 6 , Cantonese  Jit kyùn dou  - "way of the catching fist") is a martial art style or self-defense concept developed by Bruce Lee . The fighting system was originally called Jun Fan Gung Fu or Jun Fan Kung-Fu ( 振 藩 功夫 ), Jun Fan ( 振 藩 ) being Lee's Chinese first name.

Characteristic

Jeet Kune Do , literally: "The way of the intercepting fist", is a concept that is aimed at the greatest possible efficiency in a fight . The martial arts techniques researched and collected by Bruce Lee are named after him Jun Fan Kung Fu (Jun Fan was Bruce Lee's real first name). Bruce Lee differentiated between fighting in three distances, namely long, medium and near distance. He combined elements from various classical styles such as Wing Chun with techniques from various other Eastern and Western martial arts, including Western boxing , Muay Thai , Taekwondo , fencing and judo or Jiu Jitsu and Tang Lang Quan . The term Jeet Kune ( 截 拳 , jiéquán , Jyutping jit 6 kyun 4  - “ catching a fist”) is used in several Chinese martial arts styles to denote a form (a set sequence of movements), for example in the eagle style and in the northern mantis style, then sometimes as "Fast fist" translated. Bruce Lee has been shown to have trained both styles in his earlier years, particularly the Jeet-Kune eagle shape, and later resorted to that name.

The system dispenses with traditional elements of Far Eastern martial arts insofar as, in its opinion, they impair the effectiveness, such as B. Breathing exercises as found in internal martial arts styles.

Lee thus created an open martial arts system that should not be subject to the limitations of traditional martial arts styles. He therefore always attached great importance to the fact that Jeet Kune Do was not understood as a ritualized martial art, unlike the Ju-Jutsu developed around the same time in Germany , which is basically also open to style, but is itself a style, a ritualized one Martial arts.

It is worth mentioning that Bruce Lee is sometimes seen in Germany as a kind of false Wing Chun fighter or false Wing Chun teacher, who was excellently trained, but not fully trained. That is incorrect, Bruce Lee never taught Wing Chun. Already in his first school, the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Seattle, he taught a combination of techniques of Wing Chun, Tang Lang , boxing and fencing, namely an early version of Jun Fan Kung Fu. Even then, Bruce Lee tried to escape the regulation of a single style, which later led to the concept of the JKD. Bruce Lee always taught only a few students at the same time and tried to encourage them individually; so they also got training plans individually tailored to them.

Jeet Kune Do (JKD) is therefore not to be understood as a martial art style , but as a principle or philosophy. Bruce Lee has always considered it important that “Jeet Kune Do” is just a name that should not be over-interpreted. He described his work with the words "Using no way as way - having no limitation as limitation." ( "Use no way as a way - have no limit as a limit." , 以 無法 為 有 法 ， 以 無限 為 有限。  /  以无法 为 有 法 ， 以 无限 为 有限。 ) and thus primarily pursued the idea of Daoism : One should let things take their course and not develop a fixed form or idea, but rather actively surrender to the flow of things. In Chinese one speaks here of Wúwéi ( 無為  /  无为 ), the “empty” or “not-to-be”; another description is “acting by not acting”.

When he was tied to the bed because of a spinal injury for several months, Bruce Lee described the system in collaboration with his wife Linda in the book Tao of Jeet Kune Do . The book was published posthumously in 1978 and contains many handwritten sketches and philosophical explanations; it is unclear whether Bruce Lee intended it for publication at all.

“Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick. "

“Take things as they are: hit when you have to hit. Kick when you have to kick. "

- Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee himself often referred to water as the elementary force of nature: adaptable, intangible and yet able to hollow out a stone. He took this nature of water as a model for the duel: The best fighter is not the boxer , the karateka or the taekwondoin , but the one who can best adapt to the situation and the opponent - without adhering to certain, studied techniques . This also includes looking at people as individuals. Everyone should develop their own individual “style”, listen to their body and follow it. It is not only speed and maximum strength and technique that play a role, but rather the impulse, the combination of factors. The latter is especially important for small but fast fighters, as they can compensate for the lack of mass through speed. In addition, JKD has high philosophical standards and is therefore much more than a purely physical form of expression.

Because of his critical remarks on traditional martial arts and the fact that he taught anyone who met the necessary philosophical demands of the JKD, regardless of their ethnic origin, Bruce Lee quickly got into disputes with the traditional Chinese masters in the USA. They were of the opinion that the secrets of the Asian martial arts should not be passed on to the western world. Hence a historic duel between Bruce Lee and one of the masters. After Bruce Lee had defeated the master within a few minutes, he was allowed to teach the western students from then on without further objections. How hard Bruce Lee was in developing his principles towards himself can be seen from the fact that after the said fight he was annoyed that it "had lasted too long".

One of the most famous JKD techniques, which one inevitably associates with Bruce Lee, is the so-called One Inch Punch (a technique that is similar to the so-called “Long Bridge” from Wing Chun ). He performed a punch from a very short distance (hence the name), the force of which pushes the opponent several meters backwards. This technique has since been adopted by practitioners of other styles.

Bruce Lee passed his JKD on to a select few students during his lifetime, including great actors such as James Coburn , Steve McQueen and Chuck Norris . His students were Lee's wife Linda, Ted Wong, Larry Hartsell, Bob Bremer, Taky Kimura, Jesse R. Glover , Richard Bustillo, Jerry Poteet, Dan Inosanto and a few more. Dan Inosanto was the only student of Lee who was personally certified by him to teach Jeet Kune Do. Under Inosanto's leadership, numerous outstanding martial artists developed, such as B. Paul Vunak, the founder of the Progressive Fighting System (PFS).

“Empty your mind! Be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. Put it into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash: Be water, my friend! "

“Empty your mind! Be without a fixed shape or form, like water. When you put water in a cup, it becomes a cup. If you fill it in a bottle, it becomes a bottle, if you fill it in a tea kettle, it becomes a tea kettle. Water can flow or it can destroy. Be water, my friend. "

- Bruce Lee : TV interview

Trivia

In Lee's last film Game of Death , which he couldn't finish because of his untimely death, the rationale of JKD should shine through. A different martial art was to be demonstrated on each floor of a five-tier pagoda, with the adaptability of the JKD Bruce Lee being the only one to defeat all opponents. In order to distinguish himself from the other martial artists - all in traditional clothing - and to symbolize the difference of the JKD on the outside, Bruce Lee wore his famous yellow suit in this film. The last opponent (represented by basketball professional and JKD student Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ) should be the strongest, as he fought “without style” (in the JKD sense) and used his physical advantages in a targeted manner.

Lost original scenes from Game of Death were discovered in the late 1990s and published by John Little. John Little is considered to be one of the few people who was allowed to work through all of Bruce Lee's documents and records. He has published numerous works on Jeet Kune Do and Jun Fan Kung Fu.

Especially in the dialogue and fight against Dan Inosanto it is very easy to see what cinematic claim Bruce Lee wanted to implement. Not only the external principles of the JKD, but also the philosophy behind it should be passed on. An analogy to the nature of the JKD is provided by Lee fighting with a bamboo stick - an extremely flexible yet powerful weapon - which he uses at the beginning of this scene.

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