Jeet Kune Do

Jeet Kune Do

The Jeet Kune Do Emblem The Taijitu represents the concepts of yin and yang. The Chinese characters indicate: "Using no way as way" and "Having no limitation as limitation". The arrows represent the endless interaction between yang and yin.
Also known as	JKD, Jeet Kun Do, Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do
Focus	Eclectic & Hybrid
Creator	Bruce Lee
Parenthood	Primarily Wing Chun, Western Boxing & Épée Fencing

Jeet Kune Do, (Chinese: 截拳道; Cantonese Yale: Jit⁶kyun⁴dou⁶; [tsìːt̚.kʰy̭ːn.tòu]) abbreviated JKD, is an eclectic and hybrid martial art heavily influenced by the philosophy of martial artist Bruce Lee. Lee, who founded the system on July 9, 1967, referred to it as "non-classical", suggesting that JKD is a form of Chinese Kung Fu, yet without form. Unlike more traditional martial arts, Jeet Kune Do is not fixed or patterned, and is a philosophy with guiding thoughts. It was named for the concept of attacking when one's opponent is about to attack. Jeet Kune Do practitioners believe in minimal movement with maximum effect.

In the screenplay of the 1973 Warner Brothers film, Enter the Dragon, when Lee is asked, "What's your style?" Lee replied, "My style?...You can call it the art of fighting without fighting."

The name Jeet Kune Do was often said by Lee to be just a name, and he often referred to it as "the art of expressing the human body" in his writings and in interviews. Through his studies Lee came to believe that styles had become too rigid and unrealistic. He called martial art competitions of the day "dry land swimming". He believed real combat was spontaneous, and a martial artist cannot predict it, but only react to it, and a good martial artist should "be like water"—move fluidly without hesitation.

On January 10-11, 1996, the Bruce Lee Foundation decided to use the name Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do (振藩截拳道) to refer to the martial arts system which Lee founded; "Jun Fan" being Lee's Chinese given name.

Originally, when Lee began researching various fighting styles, he called it Jun Fan Gung Fu. Not wanting to create another style which would share the limitations that all styles had, he instead described the process which he used to create it:

I have not invented a "new style," composite, modified or otherwise that is set within distinct form as apart from "this" method or "that" method. On the contrary, I hope to free my followers from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds. Remember that Jeet Kune Do is merely a name used, a mirror in which to see "ourselves". . . Jeet Kune Do is not an organized institution that one can be a member of. Either you understand or you don't, and that is that. There is no mystery about my style. My movements are simple, direct and non-classical. The extraordinary part of it lies in its simplicity. Every movement in Jeet Kune Do is being so of itself. There is nothing artificial about it. I always believe that the easy way is the right way. Jeet Kune Do is simply the direct expression of one's feelings with the minimum of movements and energy. The closer to the true way of Kung Fu, the less wastage of expression there is. Finally, a Jeet Kune Do man who says Jeet Kune Do is exclusively Jeet Kune Do is simply not with it. He is still hung up on his self-closing resistance, in this case anchored down to reactionary pattern, and naturally is still bound by another modified pattern and can move within its limits. He has not digested the simple fact that truth exists outside all molds; pattern and awareness is never exclusive. Again let me remind you Jeet Kune Do is just a name used, a boat to get one across, and once across it is to be discarded and not to be carried on one's back.