Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

for I strongly object to formality, and to the idea of distinction of branches”
(Little 1997a, 127). Bruce Lee was more interested in JKD’s powerful liberating
qualities, which allowed individuals to find their own path to excellence
in the martial arts.
Origins and Evolution of Jeet Kune Do
Bruce Lee’s personal history and dynamic personality provided the foundation
for Jeet Kune Do. Lee began his formal martial arts training in Hong
Kong as a teenager studying yongchun (wing chun) under the famous
teacher Yip Man (Cantonese; Mandarin Ye Wen). However, Lee was already
beginning to experiment with other forms of combat, such as Western
boxing and other Chinese martial arts styles.
A turning point in the development of Jeet Kune Do occurred after
Lee had moved to the United States and was involved in a challenge match
with another Chinese martial artist. The challenge was to prevent Lee from
teaching non-Chinese students, which was taboo during the early 1960s.
Although Lee defeated his opponent, he was unhappy with how long the
fight lasted and with how unusually winded he was afterwards. Up to that
point, Lee had been content with improvising and expanding on his
yongchun, but he realized that a strict adherence to it limited his performance.
In addition, he saw that he needed to be in peak physical condition
to fully actualize his potential. “This momentous event, then, was the impetus
for the evolution of Jeet Kune Do and the birth of his new training
regime” (Little 1998a, 12).
“By the time Lee came to Los Angeles, he had scrapped his modified
Wing Chun and searched out the roots of combat, to find the universal
principles and concepts fundamental to all styles and systems” (Wong and
Cheung 1990, 9–10). In 1967, Bruce Lee named his approach Jeet Kune
Do. However, Lee was perfectly clear in his article, “Liberate Yourself from
Classical Karate,” that he was not inventing a new style of martial arts with
its own traditional moves, since styles were “merely parts dissected from a
unitary whole” (1986, 65). He urged all practitioners to objectively seek
the truth in combat when on their path to self-discovery. This article was
controversial, since it advised martial artists to not uncritically accept prescribed
formulas and to be free from the bondage of any style’s doctrine,
which he called “organized despair” (42).
On July 20, 1973, Bruce Lee passed away, leaving a huge legacy for the
martial arts. Lee’s films created a whole new genre, the martial arts action
film. As a result, he became a cult figure like Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe,
and James Dean. Furthermore, Lee’s tremendous impact on the martial arts
is still felt today. His personal writings have become best-sellers and have influenced
many progressive martial artists and styles. In fact, many would
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