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Born: November 27, 1940 Bruce Lee's martial background was not traditional Chinese Kung Fu, even his study under Wing Chun's Yip Man, was less than two years. Yip Man did not consider Bruce Lee a serious student Advanced martial techniques and energies, are based on a continual regimen of training lasting decades. Bruce Lee never studied at any school long enough to take advantage of this. Bruce Lee ended up spending much time reinventing the wheel'. Any techniques in Bruce Lee's style were based on only his experience. Since there has never been any world class Martial Artist to have been produced by Jeet Kun Do, it is questionable whether any of Bruce Lee's self taught methods, are of any use to anyone else, except as basic self defense.
By Dr. William Upton-Knittle
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I also have the first article he ever wrote for publication (for me when I was associate editor at Black Belt magazine). It was so poor we sent it back, an act that angered him to no end at that time. But once he moved here to get into movies and TV he realized he had no power ..... speed but no results. That's what he wanted from me. ...
There is an internal side to the martial arts....esp. the Chinese arts which
later were streamlined by the Japanese who lost the sense of internal until
ch'an came to Japan as zen and they saw it as the perfect paradox of
internal skill and killing.......but it is not what most are being taught
today. It all changed in the mid 60s when people outside the Asian
communities began to learn about martial arts....then came the prostitution,
phony rankings, made-up school names and everything else that makes true MA
so difficult to find these days.
"Tang So Do is the equivalent of Japanese Shotokan Karate. Japan occupied Korea from 1912-1945 abolishing all Korean martial arts. Tang So Do was not invented till 1945. Furthermore, the Japanese let the Koreans train in their martial arts like Karate, Judo, and Juijitsu. After 1945 the Koreans wanted to gain their identity back as Koreans: Judo became Yudo, Aki-Juijitsu became Hapkido and Shotokan Karate became Tang So Do."
The first kwan or school in Korea was the Chung Do Kwan or blue wave school (c.1944). Founded by Won Kook(Kyuk) lee (Yi). Lee stated that he taught Tang So Do (Chinese Hand Way). Lee's instructor was the Okinawan, Funakoshi the founder of Shotokan, although I don't think Funakoshi would have said he taught Shotokan rather, Okinawa Te or Kara Te(meaning both empty hand and chinese hand).
From what I have pieced together is that early Tang So Do was essentially Karate taught by Koreans. As more Kwans began other influences were brought in perhaps from direct from China.
Tang So Do/ Shotokan form comparison:
Kusanku=Kwanku
Bruce Lee and Taki Kimura Bruce Lee's main sparring partner and closest friends was Taki Kimura. Taki Kimura, delivered the eulogy at Bruce Lee's funeral,and was a pall bearer along with Steve McQueen, and James Coburn. Although Bruce Lee officially closed his martial arts schools two years before his death, he allowed his instructors to teach privately. Since his death, Jeet Kune Do has split into different groups. There are two major branches: " * The Original (or Jun Fan) JKD branch, whose main proponents are Taky Kimura, James Lee, Jerry Poteet, and Ted Wong; these groups principally teach just what Bruce Lee taught, and encourage the student to further develop his or her abilities according to Bruce Lee's teachings.
* The JKD Concepts branch, whose main proponents are Dan Inosanto, and Larry Hartsell; these groups have continued to modify Jeet Kune Do, under the philosophy that it was never meant to be a static art but rather an ongoing evolution, and have incorporated elements from many other martial arts into the main fold of its teachings (most notably, grappling and Kali / Escrima material)."
In 1965, Bruce left Taki Kimura in charge of his kung fu school, while
he was making The Green Hornet TV series where he would play as Kato.
In 1981, the JKD concept was taught in only three places: the Filipino
Kali Academy in Torrance, California; in Charlotte, North Carolina
(where Larry Hartsell taught a few select students); and in Seattle,
Washington (under the direction of Taki Kimura).
"Bruce Lee, and thus JKD was heavily influenced by Western boxing and fencing. Although the backbone concepts (such as centerline, vertical punching, and forward pressure) come from Wing Chun, Lee stopped using the Wing Chun stances in favor of what he considered to be more fluid/flexible fencing and boxing stances."
Most empty hand martial artists are unfamiliar with the boxing and fencing stances as applied to sparring, so they assume they are unique to Jeet Kuen Do, which is a mistake.
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The stunts in Bruce Lee's movies, were not done by Bruce; in The Chinese Connection, "stunt work by a young Jackie Chan (who served as Lee's double)."
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When Bruce Lee fights multiple opponents, they only come at him one at a time, whereas Jackie Chan and Jet Li, fight multiple opponents at the same time, and from different angles. Jackie ChanBorn: April 7, 1954 Jackie Chan studied Martial Arts since he was very young at the Peking Opera, along with Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. At 7, Jackie's parents moved to Australia to work. Being a naturally energetic boy, Jackie was enrolled in Yu Jim Yuen's Training Academy to study Peking Opera. It was a grueling process, where they had to wake up at five in the morning and turned in late at night. Life in the Peking Opera School was tough, where one can easily get beaten up by Master Yu if one did not train hard enough or were naughty. Separate interviews with Yuen Biao, and Sammo Hung. Together with Sammo And Biao, the three were part of the Famous Seven Little Fortunes troupe. Jackie was to spend 10 years at the Opera School some sort like an apprentice learning an elusive skill, one which will put him in good stead for his superstar future. Since Jackie studied Chinese Wu Shu for many years under many masters and grandmasters, his style and abilities reflect the achievements, developments and abilities of many marital artists and many generations. Jackie trained under GrandMaster Leung Ting in Wing Tsun, Sifu Yu Jim Yuen, Sifu Yu Chan-yuan and other masters in Tasng Long (Mantis), Bak Mei (White Eyebrow), as well as the traditional northern Shaolin Kung Fu he learned in opera school. He also learned Hapkido, Boxing, Judo, Taekwondo and Hei Long (Under Master G.J. Torres). He stated that some of his martial arts training has been learned from Jin Pal Kim, a Korean Hapkido stylist. Jackie Chan does all of his own stunts. Chan holds the Guinness World Record for "Most Stunts By A Living Actor". There are no special effects in Jackie Chan's Films.Since Jackie Chan has said that something to the effect that he admires something about Bruce Lee, many assume that he is admiring his martial arts; WRONG. Jackie Chan has also said that he admires, and has learned form Charlie Chaplin. Perhaps these followers should study Charlie Chaplin for learning how to fight. Jackie Chan will take on multiple opponents at same time from different angles. Jet LiBorn: April 26, 1963 His mother took him to the Beijing Amateur Sports School at the age of eight.
Jet Li studied at Beijing Shaolin Martial Arts school and the Bejing Shi Cha Hai Youth Sports School. After three years of intensive training, Li won his first national championship for the Beijing Wushu Team.
As a member of the team, he received wushu training and went on to win fifteen gold medals and one silver medal in Chinese wushu championships:
1974; Youth National Athletic Competition: broadsword form gold medal, optional empty-hand form gold medal, all-round gold medal;
All his optional empty-hand form medals were won with a form called fanzi yingzhaoquan (Fanzi eagle claw). His success led to the PRC declaring Jet Li to be a "National Treasure".
Jet had some tradtional studies with Shaolin Buddhism with Abbot Hai Teng, who is featured, at the end doing a single finger headstand, video Abbot Hai Teng Of Shaolin.
Jet Li, has an article in the November 2004, issue of inside Kung Fu,
Straight From The Heart;
Since Jet Li studied Chinese Wu Shu for many years under many masters and grandmasters, his style and abilities reflect the achievements, developments and abilities of many marital artists and many generations. Jet Li will take on multiple opponents at same time from different angles. |