Jeet Kune Do

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ABOUT

SUMMARY

HISTORY/ORIGIONS

Etymology
Jeet Kune Do is a Cantonese word which literally translates as “the way of the intercepting fist. The term was first coined by Bruce Lee in 1967 to describe his way of practicing martial art and the philosophy behind it. The philosophy behind the fighting style was one of the reasons why he struggled to put a name to his martial arts because in that way he would have conformed something that he believed should not be conformed. The name however, kept being used after his death

Beginnings
Jeet Kune Do is believe to have come from Wing Chun, a cHinese martial art method that Bruce lee had studies and came to America with. Wing Chun is an empty hand style developed and taugh by Sifu Yip Man. With Wing Chun Lee developed his understanding of striking with an open hand through the centreline while protecting his own center from being attacked from the sides. Lee developed a dislike for unnecessary and flashy martial arts moves. Bruce Lee also studied western boxing and fencing which he would later incorporate into his own style.
Lee opend a Martial arts school in America in 1964 and named it the Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute where he taught a modified type of Win Chun. Things changed when he fought Chinese martial arts master Wong Jack Man and defeated him in less than three minutes. Even though he had won, Lee was not satisfied with the way the match had gone because he believed his style limited him from fighting to his full potential. If he had, he believed the match would have not lasted as long as it had. This led to him creating a style that would be driven by the philosophy that martial arts should have no limits. According to Lee there should never be a single way of doing thi...

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...the concept of interception or attacking while one's opponent is about to attack. However, the name Jeet Kune Do was often said by Lee to be just a name. He himself often referred 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 that combat was spontaneous, and that a martial artist cannot predict it, only react to it, and that a good martial artist should "be like water" and move fluidly without hesitation.
The Taijitu represents the concepts of yin and yang. The Chinese characters indicate: "Using no way as way" & "Having no limitation as limitation". The arrows represent the endless interaction between yang and yin.[1]

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