Jeet Kune Do (JKD) translates as ‘way of intercepting fist,’ and was a fighting system first created by martial arts legend Bruce Lee. JKD was championed by Lee as a system of effective self defence but was not a martial art “style” in the traditional sense of the word.
Jeet Kune Do
Lee was an accomplished exponent of Wing Chun Kung Fu however he felt that Wing Chun lacked street credibility. Furthermore he held strong, passionate opinions about the limitations of many other martial art styles and as a result was keen to make clear that JKD was only a key to a door that unlocked a student’s understanding and consequent effectiveness in a fight.
The system itself is rooted in Wing Chun Kung Fu (or Gong Fu*) but incorporates elements of a wide range of diverse disciplines, notably foot movements from sword fencing, grappling, kicking and boxing. Great emphasis is placed on the need for physical fitness and an overall healthy state of well being.
Like students of my own style of karate, JKD students are taught the importance of controlling or affecting the centre line, or axis, of an opponent while keeping their own centre line protected and correct. Also, again with significant similarities to our own martial philosophy, JKD students are advised that the more simple the technique, the more effective it is likely to be.
Lee clearly felt that many other martial art styles limited their student to a particular way of thinking or application of techniques and therefore with JKD the ‘whatever works’ philosophy is very important.
Perhaps the Bruce Lee approach is best summarised in Lee’s own words..
“Remember, too, that Jeet Kune Do is merely a term, a label to be used as a boat to get one across; once across, it is to be discarded and not carried on one's back.
These few paragraphs are, at best, a "finger pointing to the moon." Please do not take the finger to be the moon or fix your gaze so intently on the finger as to miss all the beautiful sights of heaven. After all, the usefulness of the finger is in pointing away from itself to the light which illumines finger and all.”
*Gong fu has the same meaning as kung fu kung fu but is the written and phonetic word when translated from mandarin into English using the Roman (Latin) alphabet.
