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El Mastero · 01-01-2004, 12:18 PM

Here's a small portion of an interview with Taky Kimura that I feel has some relevance to the discussion at hand. I got the information from here. http://www.forumco.com/pauljbax/topi...2DJeet+Kune+Do

IKF: How do you view the art of jeet kune do?

TK: The art of jeet kune do was developed by Bruce while he was living in Los Angeles. I can say that it was the product of many years of martial arts research. Probably because my close relationship with him as a friend, I am the only guy in Seattle that saw the JKD level that he was into whenever he came up here. His approach was very revolutionary in the mid-'60s and many people weren't ready to understand what he was talking about. The training emphasized contact sparring with headgear, gloves, and shin guards — that was something very uncommon then. He was talking about "liberating" the martial artist when a lot of people didn't understand what it meant "to be slave of a style." I can compare the art of jeet kune do to a beautiful sculptured object. The final product is awesome but how did he do it? I think it's important to go through the pieces that he discarded, study them, and learn them to get up to that point because it was an ongoing process of "shedding away the nonessentials." Sometimes there are things that we don't understand today but that will became increasingly clear to us in time. Unfortunately, I have seen the effects of exploitation and inadequacy in jeet kune do and rarely, if ever, do many gain more than just a physical understanding of what the art is all about.

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HAVE YOU FOUND THE SAME LIMITATIONS IN WING CHUN THAT BRUCE DID?
TK:

As far as Wing Chun goes there is a vast amount of knowledge there and, to be honest with you, I don’t know much of it. The only thing I know is the modified techniques that Bruce taught us. If some of those people who are real Wing Chun artists would come into our club and see us they would probably shake their heads and say "What the hell are these guys doing?" I can’t really say one way or the other about it. I think the concept of Wing Chun in principle is very good. It’s a simplified straight movement in that it takes away a lot of the impractical things you might see in another structure. When I mention this I certainly don’t mean to take anything away from anyone else. I always tell guys that want to get into our private club that you might think wrestling or boxing is the best thing and if that’s the case, that’s what you're going to excel in if that’s how you feel. We’re not here to tell you we have something that is better than boxing or anything else.

01-01-2004, 12:18 PM	#14 (permalink)
El Mastero Registered User Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Bronx, NYC Posts: 111	Here's a small portion of an interview with Taky Kimura that I feel has some relevance to the discussion at hand. I got the information from here. http://www.forumco.com/pauljbax/topi...2DJeet+Kune+Do IKF: How do you view the art of jeet kune do? TK: The art of jeet kune do was developed by Bruce while he was living in Los Angeles. I can say that it was the product of many years of martial arts research. Probably because my close relationship with him as a friend, I am the only guy in Seattle that saw the JKD level that he was into whenever he came up here. His approach was very revolutionary in the mid-'60s and many people weren't ready to understand what he was talking about. The training emphasized contact sparring with headgear, gloves, and shin guards — that was something very uncommon then. He was talking about "liberating" the martial artist when a lot of people didn't understand what it meant "to be slave of a style." I can compare the art of jeet kune do to a beautiful sculptured object. The final product is awesome but how did he do it? I think it's important to go through the pieces that he discarded, study them, and learn them to get up to that point because it was an ongoing process of "shedding away the nonessentials." Sometimes there are things that we don't understand today but that will became increasingly clear to us in time. Unfortunately, I have seen the effects of exploitation and inadequacy in jeet kune do and rarely, if ever, do many gain more than just a physical understanding of what the art is all about. -------- HAVE YOU FOUND THE SAME LIMITATIONS IN WING CHUN THAT BRUCE DID? TK: As far as Wing Chun goes there is a vast amount of knowledge there and, to be honest with you, I don’t know much of it. The only thing I know is the modified techniques that Bruce taught us. If some of those people who are real Wing Chun artists would come into our club and see us they would probably shake their heads and say "What the hell are these guys doing?" I can’t really say one way or the other about it. I think the concept of Wing Chun in principle is very good. It’s a simplified straight movement in that it takes away a lot of the impractical things you might see in another structure. When I mention this I certainly don’t mean to take anything away from anyone else. I always tell guys that want to get into our private club that you might think wrestling or boxing is the best thing and if that’s the case, that’s what you're going to excel in if that’s how you feel. We’re not here to tell you we have something that is better than boxing or anything else.