Tweet
The meaning of JKD from the man who was there.
Let's go back where it all started. Here's a quote from Dan Inosanto who was with Bruce when the term JKD was coined. It a bit long sorry.
"It all began in the early part of 1968 while Bruce and I were driving along in the car. We were talking about fencing, Western fencing. Bruce said the most efficient means of countering in fencing was the stop-hit. A stop-hit is when you do not parry and then counter, it's all done in one step. When the opponent attacks, you intercept his move with a thrust or hit of your own. It is designed to score a hit in the midst of the attacker's action, and is the highest and most economical of all the counters. Then Bruce said, "We should call our method the 'stop-hitting fist style', or the 'intercepting fist style'." "What would that be in Chenese?" I asked. "That would be Jeet Kune Do," he said. Jeet Kune Do means the way of the stopping fist, or the way of the intercepting fist. So, instead of blocking and then hitting, our main concept is to dispense with blocking completely, and instead to intercept and hit. We realize that this cannot be done all the time, but this is the main theme.
Up until 1967 our method was called "Jun Fan" Gung Fu, which was a modification of various techniques from Northern Praying Mantis, Southern Praying Mantis, Choy Li Fut, Eagle Claw, Wesern Boxing, Hung Gar, Thai Boxing, wresting, Juso, Jui Jitsu and several Northern Gung Fu styles. It is obvious that Wing Chun was the main nucleus and all the other methods evolved around it.
It was during this time that Bruce developed hes own particular style of kicking, modified from the Northern styles of Gung Fu, and greatly improved by the way he trained for it.
In later years he became sorry that he ever coined the term Jeet Kune Do because he gelt that it, too, was limiting, and according to Bruce, "There is no such thing as as style if you totally understand the roots of combat."
The term "JKD" came about naturally, because Bruce used to abbreviate much of his material, such as "HIA,ABC, ABD, SAA, PIA."
One day I said to him, "This JKD is fantastic," and he said, "Hey, I like that term JKD," and he used it as a shortcut for Jeet Kune Do. In our personal conversations, we used "JKD" as a term for something very good, out of this world, unique,or very fast.
So for instance, we could be driveing along and see a restaraunt we liked, and say, "yeah, the food at that place is JKD!" Or,
"That movie I saw last night was JKD!"
Or,
"Mmmmmm, his singing is JKD!"
Or,
"Wow, that painting is JKD!"
However, Bruce also said, "JKD is just a name, don't fuss over it."
What it boils down to is this: JKD is Bruce lee's philosophy, based on things he observed to be true."
Sorry Dan, please don't sue me. Dan removed this material from the public many many years ago but I am lucky to still have a lot of it
"It all began in the early part of 1968 while Bruce and I were driving along in the car. We were talking about fencing, Western fencing. Bruce said the most efficient means of countering in fencing was the stop-hit. A stop-hit is when you do not parry and then counter, it's all done in one step. When the opponent attacks, you intercept his move with a thrust or hit of your own. It is designed to score a hit in the midst of the attacker's action, and is the highest and most economical of all the counters. Then Bruce said, "We should call our method the 'stop-hitting fist style', or the 'intercepting fist style'." "What would that be in Chenese?" I asked. "That would be Jeet Kune Do," he said. Jeet Kune Do means the way of the stopping fist, or the way of the intercepting fist. So, instead of blocking and then hitting, our main concept is to dispense with blocking completely, and instead to intercept and hit. We realize that this cannot be done all the time, but this is the main theme.
Up until 1967 our method was called "Jun Fan" Gung Fu, which was a modification of various techniques from Northern Praying Mantis, Southern Praying Mantis, Choy Li Fut, Eagle Claw, Wesern Boxing, Hung Gar, Thai Boxing, wresting, Juso, Jui Jitsu and several Northern Gung Fu styles. It is obvious that Wing Chun was the main nucleus and all the other methods evolved around it.
It was during this time that Bruce developed hes own particular style of kicking, modified from the Northern styles of Gung Fu, and greatly improved by the way he trained for it.
In later years he became sorry that he ever coined the term Jeet Kune Do because he gelt that it, too, was limiting, and according to Bruce, "There is no such thing as as style if you totally understand the roots of combat."
The term "JKD" came about naturally, because Bruce used to abbreviate much of his material, such as "HIA,ABC, ABD, SAA, PIA."
One day I said to him, "This JKD is fantastic," and he said, "Hey, I like that term JKD," and he used it as a shortcut for Jeet Kune Do. In our personal conversations, we used "JKD" as a term for something very good, out of this world, unique,or very fast.
So for instance, we could be driveing along and see a restaraunt we liked, and say, "yeah, the food at that place is JKD!" Or,
"That movie I saw last night was JKD!"
Or,
"Mmmmmm, his singing is JKD!"
Or,
"Wow, that painting is JKD!"
However, Bruce also said, "JKD is just a name, don't fuss over it."
What it boils down to is this: JKD is Bruce lee's philosophy, based on things he observed to be true."
Sorry Dan, please don't sue me. Dan removed this material from the public many many years ago but I am lucky to still have a lot of it
Comment