Biography of Bruce Lee

When Bruce Lee was 19, he left Hong Kong to study for a degree in philosophy at the University of Washington in America. It was at this time that he took on a waiter's job and also began to teach some of his skills to students who would pay. Some of the Japanese schools in the Seattle area tried to force Bruce out, and there was many confrontations and duels fought for Bruce to remain.

Bruce met his wife Linda at the University he was studying. His Martial Arts school flourished and he soon graduated. He gained some small roles in Hollywood films "Marlowe" etc, and some major stars were begging to be students of the Little Dragon. James Coburn, Steve McQueen and Lee Marvin to name but a few. He regularly gave displays at exhibitions, and it was during one of these exhibitions that he was spotted by a producer and signed up to do The Green Hornet series. The series was quite successful in the States - but was a huge hit in Hong Kong. Bruce visited Hong Kong in 1968 and he was overwhelmed by the attention he received from the people he had left.

He once said on a radio program if the price was right he would do a movie for the Chinese audiences. He returned to the States and completed some episodes of Longstreet. He began writing his book on Jeet Kune Do at roughly the same time.

Back in Hong Kong producers were desperate to sign Bruce for a Martial Arts film, and it was Raymond Chow the head of Golden Harvest who produced The Big Boss.

Martial Art of Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee began his formal martial arts training at the age of 13 in Wing Chun Gung Fu under Hong Kong master Yip Man. Like most martial arts schools at that time, Yip Man's classes were often taught by the highest ranking student. Lee didn't finish Yip Man's curriculum.

It would not be until his arrival in the United States, however, that Lee began the process of creating his own style, which he would later teach at the martial arts schools he opened in Oakland and Los Angeles, California (named the Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute). After becoming dissatisfied with existing schools of martial arts, he later modified his style, which consisted mostly of elements of Wing Chun, with elements of Western Boxing and Fencing, and named it Jun Fan Gung Fu. Lee expanded this style over time, including elements from Muay Thai, Indo-Malay Silat, Panantukan, Sikaran, Bando, Catch Wrestling, Karate, Judo, Jujitsu, Aikido, and other arts. It would be much later that he would come to describe his style as Jeet Kune Do (Way of the Intercepting Fist) or JKD.

During this time he developed his own combat techniques as well as the famous one inch punch, which comes from Wing Chun, which he demonstrated during a Karate tournament in Long beach.

Prior to his death, Lee told his then only two living instructors, Dan Inosanto and Taky Kimura (James Yimm Lee had passed away in 1972), to dismantle his schools. He no longer wished to call his art Jeet Kune Do or have his students associate what they were learning as Bruce Lee's style. His last wish was that Dan Inosanto never use the name JKD or Jeet Kune Do again. Though there are many who claim to teach Jeet Kune Do around the globe, Inosanto following Lee's request, still refers to the Bruce Lee curriculum taught at his school as Jun Fan Gung Fu.

Today, there is often some controversy between Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu (original Jeet Kune Do) and "Jeet Kune Do concepts," which explore other styles not previously incorporated into Jeet Kune Do by Lee. Depending on the instructor a person trains under, the name of "the style of JKD" is usually specific to a time period in Lee's process although many of the techniques are often the same. Perhaps a reason why Lee himself later regretted even giving a name to his philosophy/fighting style thereby making it just another "martial art style." Lee saw loyalty to a particular martial arts style as being dogmatic and having limitations. This and Bruce Lee's other ideas about martial arts students gave Bruce Lee many enemies in the martial art community of the 1960s/70s. Yet, much of the dispute about Jeet Kune Do instruction is not so much the names, but the credibility of the instructors teaching these Jeet Kune Do fighting systems.

There were three certified instructors: Dan Inosanto received the highest certification in Lee's art (notable exception is Taky Kimura, senior most instructor in Jun Fan Gung Fu) is widely regarded as the senior most JKD instructor. All other instructors (again except Taky Kimura and the late James Yimm Lee [no relation to Bruce Lee]) are certified under Inosanto, even Bruce's other original students. Kimura, to date, has certified only one person in Jun Fan Gung Fu, his son and heir, Andy Kimura. James Yimm Lee, a close friend of Bruce, never certified anyone before his untimely passing. Inosanto often serves not only as the leading instructor and historian of Jeet Kune Do Concepts; he also teaches and practices other styles such as Kali, Silat, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jujitsu, some of which were already incorporated into the Jun Fan system.

Another student of Lee's at the Jun Fan Gung Fu institute in Seattle was Joseph Cowles, who was not certified by Lee as a Jun Fan Gung Fu instructor, but was encouraged by him to teach martial arts. Cowles then founded the Wu Wei Gung Fu system.

Extras


Bruce Lee Collection [DTS Limited Edition]	Bruce Lee Movie Collection [DTS Limited Edition]	30th Anniversary In Memory Of Bruce Lee	The Legend Of Bruce Lee	Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do

Best Of The Martial Arts Films	Bruce Lee - The Legend	The Dragon Series [DTS Digitally Remastered]	Thunderstorm	Death By Misadventure - The Mysterious Life Of Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee's Movies DVD
Bruce Lee's Movies DVD in 1979 Game of Death Bruce Lee's Movies DVD in 1973 Enter the Dragon Bruce Lee's Movies DVD in 1972 Fists of Fury Way of the Dragon Bruce Lee's Movies DVD in 1971 The Big Boss

Bruce Lee's Movies DVD

Biography of Bruce Lee

Martial Art of Bruce Lee

Extras