The basic structures and principles of Jeet Kune Do (JKD), the martial arts system developed by the iconic Bruce Lee, are revealed in this insightful handbook. Step-by-step lessons illustrate JKD's two basic stances and demonstrate how to perform fundamental footwork, kicking, countering, and defensive moves. The most effective aspects of JKD are highlighted, as are some of its lesser-known tools and approaches. This invaluable manual is a must-have for JKD novices and trained experts alike.
Apply the combat science of Bruce Lee's revolutionary martial art! This martial arts manual describes his research into the how and why of Jeet Kune Do techniques. Bruce Lee wrote of "three stages of cultivation" that lie along the path to JKD mastery: The Stage of Innocence--this is the level of the absolute beginner. The Stage of Art--the student is immersed in the process of technical and physical training. The Stage of Artlessness--the stage of "highest art" in which the body is no longer hindered by the mind. As Bruce Lee would say, "It hits all by itself." To reach the final stage, the student must progress methodically through the Stage of Art--there are no shortcuts! Author Teri Tom guides you on this journey by revealing the science behind the moves in Jeet Kune Do repertoire. You'll learn how to protect yourself from injury, and maximize the effectiveness of the following core techniques and their variations: Straight Lead; Rear Cross; Hook; Uppercut; Straight Kick; Hook Kick; Side Kick; and Spinning Back Kick. You'll also learn about Bruce Lee's revolutionary approach to combat that takes advantage of human biomechanics; How to evade attacks, and use those evasive movements to launch counter-attacks; Natural ways to chain your moves into seamless combinations; The importance of developing mental and physical speed, footwork, cadence, good timing and judgment of distance; All techniques are traced to the original sources that inspired Bruce Lee.
This book will serve way to decide what will work the best for you and what aspects of JKD you need to keep, as well as throw away. I feel that it would be impossible to learn this from your instructor, as he will mainly focus on what works best for him. I have been fortunate to have learned from many of the senior students of Bruce Lee and have noticed that they all focus on certain things and not on what some the others are doing. For some it may be the boxing aspects. For some it may be footwork. For others it was trapping energy and the Wing Chun elements. It was only when we started focusing on the Western fencing aspects of JKD that I was able to understand and focus on what has become my essence of JKD. Of course, an instructor cannot just hand you what will become your essence or foundation of your own JKD. This is something that you must discover for yourself as you work to become more a more efficient JKD practitioner. The purpose of this book is too show you most of what we teach in my garage and the basic principles behind each. Once you have worked on these you will come to realize what will work for you and what will not. Some of you will want to focus on distance and footwork. Others will feel comfortable crashing the line. Whatever works for you is the main thing. Just use the book as guideline to discover your own essential JKD.
ie meisten Menschen kennen Bruce Lee nur von seinen Filmen und sehen ihn nur als Schauspieler, aber er war auch ein Kampfkunstler, Autor und Philosoph. Er begann sein Kampfkunsttraining in Hong Kong, als er 13 Jahre alt war. Ein Freund stellte ihn Yip Man vor, Grossmeister im Wing Chun Kung Fu. Funf Jahre trainierte Bruce sehr hart, meistens vier bis sechs Stunden pro Tag. Was er lernte, probierte er auf der Strasse aus, und dadurch bekam er immer wieder Probleme. Seine Eltern beschlossen daher, ihn 1959 nach Amerika zu schicken. Dort machte er den High School Abschluss und studierte an der Washington University in Seattle, WA, Philosophie. In seiner freien Zeit gab er einer kleinen Gruppe Studenten Kung Fu Unterricht. Einer dieser Studenten war Linda Emery, die er 1964 heiratete. Bruce eroffnete drei Kung Fu Schulen: in Oakland, Seattle und Los Angeles. Er war sehr fasziniert von Kampfkunst und allem, was damit zusammenhing und sammelte mehr als 2000 Bucher. 1973 starb Bruce Lee mit 32 Jahren, auf dem Hohepunkt seiner Karriere. Er hinterliess der Welt vier Filme (plus 20 Minuten von einem noch zu produzierenden funften Film) und die von ihm entwickelte Kampfkunst Jeet Kune Do. 1975, zwei Jahre nach dem Tod von Bruce, wurde die erste Ausgabe des Tao des Jeet Kune Do herausgegeben. Bruce hat an einem Buch gearbeitet, in dem er seine Ideen uber Kampfkunst veroffentlichen wollte. Es sollte eine siebenteilige Enzyklopadie werden, wofur er sich schon einen Titel ausgedacht hatte, The Tao of Jeet Kune Do. Seine enorme Anzahl von Aufzeichnungen und Notizen, zusammen mehr als 6000 Seiten, bildeten die Basis fur das Buch. Als seine Frau Linda nach seinem Tod beschloss, das Buch doch noch herauszugeben, stand sie vor der beinah unmoglichen Aufgabe, alles geschriebene Material zu ordnen. Mit der Hilfe von Gilbert Johnson, der die Redaktion des Buches ubernommen hatte, und den Schulern von Bruce, ist schliesslich The Tao of Jeet Kune Do entstanden. Das Buch wurde inzwischen in 11 Sprachen ubersetzt und weltweit wurden mehr als 1 Million Exemplare verkauft! Diese deutsche Ausgabe wurde besorgt von James ter Beek, der selbst Unterricht von Ted Wong hatte - Topschuler von Bruce Lee - und der zertifizierter Jeet Kune Do Lehrer
In the spring of 1959, eighteen-year-old Bruce Lee returned to San Francisco, the city of his birth. Although the martial arts were widely unknown in America, Bruce encountered a robust fight culture in the Bay Area, populated with talented and trailblazing practitioners such as Lau Bun, Chinatown’s aging kung fu patriarch; Wally Jay, the innovative Hawaiian jujitsu master; and James Lee, the Oakland street fighter. Regarded by some as a brash loudmouth and by others as a dynamic visionary, Bruce spent his first few years back in America advocating for a modern approach to the martial arts, and showing little regard for the damaged egos left in his wake. The year of 1964 would be an eventful one for Bruce, in which he would broadcast his dissenting worldview before the first great international martial arts gathering, and then defend it by facing down Wong Jack Man—Chinatown’s young kung fu ace—in a legendary behind-closed-doors showdown. These events were a catalyst to the dawn of martial arts in America and a prelude to an icon. Based on over one hundred original interviews, Striking Distance chronicles Bruce Lee’s formative days amid the heated martial arts proving ground that thrived on San Francisco Bay in the early 1960s.
In the months leading up to his death, Bruce Lee was working on this definitive study of the Chinese martial arts--collectively known as Kung Fu or Gung Fu. This book has now been edited and is published here for the first time in its entirety. Bruce Lee totally revolutionized the practice of martial arts and brought them into the modern world--by promoting the idea that students have the right to pick and choose those techniques and training regimens which suit their own personal needs and fighting styles. He developed a new style of his own called Jeet Kune Do--combining many elements from different masters and different traditions. This was considered heretical at the time within martial arts circles, where one was expected to study with only a single master--and Lee was the first martial artist to attempt this. Today he is revered as the "father" of martial arts practice around the world--including Mixed Martial Arts. In addition to presenting the fundamental techniques, mindset and training methods of traditional Chinese martial arts, this martial art treatise explores such esoteric topics as Taoism and Zen as applied to Gung Fu, Eastern and Western fitness regimens and self-defense techniques. Also included is a Gung Fu "scrapbook" of Bruce Lee's own personal anecdotes regarding the history and traditions of the martial arts of China. After Lee's death, his manuscript was completed and edited by martial arts expert John Little in cooperation with the Bruce Lee Estate. This book features an introduction by his wife, Linda Lee Cadwell and a foreword from his close friend and student, Taky Kimura. This Bruce Lee Book is part of the Bruce Lee Library which also features: Bruce Lee: Striking Thoughts Bruce Lee: The Celebrated Life of the Golden Dragon Bruce Lee: Artist of Life Bruce Lee: Letters of the Dragon Bruce Lee: The Art of Expressing the Human Body Bruce Lee: Jeet Kune Do
Bruce Lee Jeet Kune Do is the iconic book presenting the martial art created by Bruce Lee as explained in the master's own words. In 1970, Bruce Lee suffered a back injury that confined him to bed. Rather than allowing this to slow his growth as a martial artist, he read feverishly on Eastern philosophy and Western psychology and self help books, constructing his own views on the totality of combat and life. It was during this time that Lee wrote 7 volumes containing his thoughts, ideas, opinions, and research into the art of unarmed combat, and how it applies to the everyday life. Some of this material was posthumously published in 1975, but much more existed. This landmark book serves as a more complete presentation of Bruce Lee's notes on his art of Jeet Kune Do. The development of his unique martial art form, its principles, core techniques, and lesson plans are presented here in Lee's own words. It also features Lee's illustrative sketches and his remarkable treatise on the nature of combat, success through martial arts, and the importance of a positive mental attitude in training. In addition, there are a series of "Questions Every Martial Artist Must Ask Himself," that Lee posed to himself and intended to explore as part of his own development, but never lived to complete. Jeet Kune Do: A Comprehensive Guide to Bruce Lee's Martial Way is a book every Bruce Lee fan must have.
"The straight punch is the core of Jeet Kune Do."—Bruce Lee The straight lead was a key element in Bruce Lee's development of his own personal style. It was designed to be uncomplicated, economical, and brutally effective but is not as simple as it might seem. Bruce Lee once described it the most difficult move in the Jeet Kune Do arsenal. Lee developed JKD as a response to the shortcomings he found in traditional martial arts, but it also includes elements of Western combat systems that he found effective. It incorporates contributions ranging from Jack Dempsey's approach to boxing to the fencing style of Aldo Nadi. In The Straight Lead: The Core of Bruce Lee's Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do, author Teri Tom describes the development of the straight punch in Western martial arts and describes Bruce Lee's refinement of the technique. It also offers a thorough instruction in the complexity and power of the move—showing martial artists of any discipline how to incorporate this devastating attack into their repertoire. With forewords by Shannon Lee Keasler and Ted Wong, chapters include: A Brief History of Straight Punching Evolution of Jeet Kune Do's Straight Lead The Stance Mechanics of the Straight Lead Footwork Why the Straight Lead? Application Speed Variations of the Straight Punch What Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do is Not Go to the Source An Interview with Ted Wong
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • From the infinitely inventive author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe comes "one of the funniest books of the year.... A delicious, ambitious Hollywood satire" (The Washington Post). A deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play. Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as the protagonist in his own life: he’s merely Generic Asian Man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but always he is relegated to a prop. Yet every day, he leaves his tiny room in a Chinatown SRO and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He’s a bit player here, too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy—the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. Or is it? After stumbling into the spotlight, Willis finds himself launched into a wider world than he’s ever known, discovering not only the secret history of Chinatown, but the buried legacy of his own family. Infinitely inventive and deeply personal, exploring the themes of pop culture, assimilation, and immigration—Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu’s most moving, daring, and masterful novel yet.
This book explores the social history of southern Chinese martial arts and their contemporary importance to local identity and narratives of resistance. Hong Kong's Bruce Lee ushered the Chinese martial arts onto an international stage in the 1970s. Lee's teacher, Ip Man, master of Wing Chun Kung Fu, has recently emerged as a highly visible symbol of southern Chinese identity and pride. Benjamin N. Judkins and Jon Nielson examine the emergence of Wing Chun to reveal how this body of social practices developed and why individuals continue to turn to the martial arts as they navigate the challenges of a rapidly evolving environment. After surveying the development of hand combat traditions in Guangdong Province from roughly the start of the nineteenth century until 1949, the authors turn to Wing Chun, noting its development, the changing social attitudes towards this practice over time, and its ultimate emergence as a global art form.
