What is Jeet Kune Do?

Jeet Kune Do (JKD) is the name that the late Bruce Lee gave to his combat philosophy in 1967. When Lee first began researching various fighting styles, he gave his martial art his own name of Jun Fan Gung Fu (Jun Fan was Bruce Lee’s Chinese name). However, JKD is not a “style” per se, but more a system of principles incorporating various aspects, techniques, strategies and philosophies of various martial arts. However, it is also not a mishmash of several martial arts and techniques, but rather a simplification of them. And it can be personalized to “direct the expression of one’s feelings with the minimum of movements and energy.”

Through the techniques offered by some of the multitude of martial arts that Bruce Lee incorporated into JKD, the practitioner is exposed to the principles of JKD and its application in the real world. It does not follow the regimented patterns and rules of traditional styles as many of these techniques are no longer realistic in today’s world (although they serve an important role in retaining the cultural and historical significance of an art’s origins).

For the training program being offered at by Brent Matsuda, the JKD concepts will focus on using arts studied by Bruce Lee and/or his protégé, Dan Inosanto, as “vehicles” to deliver the principles of JKD. It will ultimately be left up to the individual to choose how they would like to develop “their” JKD based on the physical attributes they have (or will discover in the process).

Arts to be incorporated include - but are not limited to

Western boxing, Muay Thai (Thai boxing), silat (Indonesian, Malaysian, Filipino), escrima/kali (Filipino stick & blade/weapons range), Jun Fan gung fu (modified wing chun), Brazilian jui jitsu/Russian sambo (ground/grappling range).