Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do

Last updated

Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do was an attempt to form an organization and fixed method or system around Jeet Kune Do, by Bruce Lee's widow Linda Lee and 19 of Lee's former students and colleagues in the late 1990s.

The first summit of the "Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do Nucleus" was held on January 10–11, 1996. [1] In their newsletter, it was declared: "The Nucleus decided that Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do would be an organization," and that, "Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do should refer only to the teaching of Bruce Lee (including his) set of basic technical, scientific, and philosophical principles." [2]

At the time, many protested by citing Bruce Lee's own declarations that apparently contradicted the agenda of the Nucleus members, such as:

"Jeet Kune Do is not a method of classified techniques, laws, and so forth, that constitute a system of fighting." [3]

"Jeet Kune Do is not an organized institution that one can be a member of. Either you understand or you don't, and that is that... Organized institutes tend to produce patternized prisoners of a systematized concept, and the instructors are often fixed in a routine." [4]

"A JKD man who says JKD is exclusively JKD is simply not in with it... A person cannot express himself fully and totally when a partial set structure or style is imposed upon him. [5]

"JKD is not a form of special conditioning with a set of beliefs and a particular approach. So basically it is not a “mass” art. It does not look at combat from a certain angle but from all possible angles because it is not based on any system... JKD is the absence of a system of stereotyped techniques." [6]

"Jeet Kune Do uses all ways and is bound by none, and likewise it uses any techniques or means that serve its end. In this art, efficiency is anything that scores... Let it be understood once and for all that I have not invented a new style, composite or modification. I have in no way set Jeet Kune Do within a distinct form governed by laws that distinguish it from "this" style or "that" method... Therefore, to attempt to define JKD in terms of a distinct style — be it kung fu, karate, street fighting or Bruce Lee's martial art — is to completely miss its meaning. Its teaching simply cannot be confined within a system." [7]

By August 1996, one of its key members, Dan Inosanto, had left. This was acknowledged by the other Nucleus members in their January 1997 newsletter: "Dan Inosanto has since chosen not to play an active role in the Nucleus." [8] By the early 2000s, the organization had disbanded and ceased operations completely.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Lee</span> Hong Kong-American martial artist and actor (1940–1973)

Bruce Lee was a Hong Kong-American martial artist, actor and philosopher. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines. Credited with helping popularize martial arts films in the 1970s, Lee is considered by some commentators and martial artists to be the most influential martial artist of all time and a pop culture icon of the 20th century, who bridged the gap between East and West. He is credited with promoting Hong Kong action cinema and helping to change the way Chinese people were presented in American films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeet Kune Do</span> Hybrid martial art

Jeet Kune Do is a hybrid martial art conceived and practiced by martial artist Bruce Lee. It was formed from Lee's experiences in unarmed fighting and self-defense—as well as eclectic, Zen Buddhist and Taoist philosophies—as a new school of martial arts thought.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Inosanto</span> Filipino-American martial arts instructor

Dan Inosanto is an American martial arts instructor and actor. Inosanto holds Instructor or black belt level ranks in several martial arts. He has studied traditional Okinawan karate, Judo, Jujutsu, Kenpo, Shoot wrestling, Systema, Filipino martial arts, and Jeet Kune Do. He was one of three people who were appointed to teach at one of the three Jun Fan Gung Fu institutes under Bruce Lee, the other two being Taky Kimura and James Yimm Lee. After Bruce Lee's death, Inosanto became the principal spokesperson and historian for Jeet Kune Do.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to martial arts:

Ted Wong was a martial arts practitioner best known for studying under Bruce Lee.

Cross-training is athletic training in sports other than the athlete's usual sport. The goal is improving overall performance. It takes advantage of the particular effectiveness of one training method to negate the shortcomings of another.

<i>Tao of Jeet Kune Do</i> 1975 book by Bruce Lee about his martial arts philosophy

Tao of Jeet Kune Do is a book expressing Bruce Lee's martial arts philosophy and viewpoints, published posthumously. The project for this book began in 1970 when Bruce Lee suffered a back injury during one of his practice sessions. During this time he could not train in martial arts. He was ordered by his doctors to wear a back brace for 6 months in order to recover from his injury. This was a very tiring and dispiriting time for Lee who was always very physically active.

The one-inch punch is a punching exercise from Chinese martial arts performed at a range of 0–15 cm (0–6 in). The one-inch punch was popularized by actor and martial artist Bruce Lee. It is purported to improve punching power and technique.

The Long Beach International Karate Championships is an International karate and martial arts tournament in Long Beach, California that was first held in August 1964 by Kenpo Grandmaster Ed Parker. The tournament ran competition til 1999 under IKKA organization/Parker family. Many great tournament fighters earned their stripes at this tournament, including Chuck Norris, Andy Ah Po, Tony Martinez Sr., Mike Stone, Joe Lewis, Jim Kelly, Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, Billy Blanks, Jerry Piddington, and "Superfoot" Bill Wallace. The Long Beach Internationals is also where Bruce Lee was first introduced to the martial arts community in August 1964, with Lee making another appearance in 1967.

<i>Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self-Defense</i> 1963 book by Bruce Lee

Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self-Defense is a book written by Bruce Lee expressing his martial arts philosophy and viewpoints. It describes his early style of gung fu which was based heavily on Wing Chun. This was before the development of his unique style of martial arts called Jeet Kune Do in the late 1960s.

Tim Tackett is a martial arts instructor and author from Redlands, California who runs a non-profit group dedicated to preserving Bruce Lee's art of Jeet Kune Do.

Jesse Raymond Glover was an African-American martial artist. He was Bruce Lee's first student. He met Lee in 1959, as they both attended Edison Technical College and practiced judo with Lee. Glover was a psychology major and a champion judoka. The character Jerome Sprout in the 1993 film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story was based on Glover.

The Bruce Lee Library is composed of books written by or about Bruce Lee (1940-1973), famous Hongkongese and American martial artist, philosopher, author, instructor of martial arts, actor, filmmaker and screenwriter.

Jerry Poteet was an American martial arts instructor, recognized for his teachings in the art of Jeet Kune Do as an original Bruce Lee student.

Bob Breen is an author and professional martial artist who began martial arts training in 1966. He has trained under a significant number of senior martial arts experts and respected figures in the martial arts world. He has published 5 martial arts books.

<i>The Legend of Bruce Lee</i> Chinese television series

The Legend of Bruce Lee is a 2008 Chinese biographical television series based on the life story of martial artist and actor Bruce Lee. The 50-episode series was produced and broadcast by CCTV and began airing on October 12, 2008. It was intended to promote Chinese culture alongside the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Bustillo</span> American martial arts instructor (1942 – 2017)

Richard Bustillo was an American martial arts instructor from Hawaii who was a student of the late Bruce Lee and an authority on Jeet Kune Do Concepts and Filipino Martial Arts.

Yorinaga Nakamura, also known as Yori Nakamura, is a retired Japanese shoot wrestler and an instructor in shoot wrestling, Jeet Kune Do, Filipino Martial Arts, Silat, and Muay Thai.

Takauki "Taky" Kimura was an American martial artist who was best known as being one of Bruce Lee's top students and closest friends - and a certified instructor in Jun Fan Gung Fu, personally certified by Bruce Lee himself. Kimura was also the best man at Lee's wedding, and one of six pallbearers during his funeral, the others including Dan Inosanto, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Peter Chin and Robert Lee, Bruce's brother.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salem Assli</span> French-American martial artist

Salem Assli was a French-American martial artist, instructor, and researcher best known as the first B.F. Savate instructor in the US. He also continued the development of martial arts on five continents and was Head of the French association of Jeet Kune Do and Filipino Kali.

References

  1. ↑ "What is Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do?".
  2. ↑ Ibid.
  3. ↑ Lee, B. (1999). Bruce Lee: Artist of Life. p. 172. 1st ed. Tuttle Publishing.
  4. ↑ Ibid. p. 179.
  5. ↑ Ibid. pp. 177, 125.
  6. ↑ Ibid. pp. 132, 136.
  7. ↑ https://blackbeltmag.com/liberate-yourself-from-classical-karate
  8. ↑ "What is Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do?".

archived Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do newsletters on the Internet Archive

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.