Ok, just a curious question but this one keeps coming up over and over. I have been told, by a friend who studies JKD, to stay away from the Inosanto lineage and, instead, try to find a lineage from someone like Taky or Bruce's brother, James. What are you thoughts on this? I'm not questioning Dan per se. I don't know enough about him. I'm just curious to hear all of your comments.
Pretty much what Simon said. Inosanto is a living legend, and one of the greatest martial artists of the modern age. His instructors are all of the highest quality. OJKD which is the lineage your friend is talking about, is more about looking like Bruce Lee and doing the same techniques he did. Nothing wrong with that, but it's a bit static.
I got a nice message from the school today that gave me a lot of information about the lineage. I would post it here but don't know if that would be appropriate without asking first. Anyway, thanks both of you. I was more curious then anything. I just couldn't figure out why I was hearing people put down Mr. Inosanto.
It's just a natural thing to do. My Hung Ga is better than your Hung Ga, my JKD is the real JKD, yours is not. Very common among lineages even now. Some MMA clubs are the modern version of this. "If you're competing I don't want you to train at other schools". Luckily I've never been told this, in fact I've been encouraged to train with others. I'm Inosanto lineage
Everyone has their preferences. Though I don't consider myself a JKD person, my lineage is to Guro Dan as well, via an instructor in Maryland. One of the problems with JKD is the space it leaves for philosophical interpretation. Which isn't necessarily a problem with JKD. It highlights a problem with us as people. We always feel a need to align ourselves with one thing versus another. I'm sure that (on the off-chance that you could find a teacher in your area who traces back to Taky Kimura or James Lee) it would be a valuable experience. But I think it's highly disingenuous to suggest that there's no JKD-specific value in training with a man who is universally recognized as having been there at the beginning and having never stopped developing as a martial artist. I've seen teachers from the Inosanto lineage. And I've seen Guro Dan himself. And all I can say is that, if you can't find a ton of value in that experience, then you're looking for something very, very different to what I'm looking for. But your friend has every right to their opinion, obviously. I'd just encourage you to get your own experience and make an informed decision.
Nothing against Guro Dan, I would have trained with him if I had the chance. But if I had stayed with JKD I would be in the Jerry Poteet lineage and from what I have seen I like it better. But that is just me and in no way is that saying anything against Guro Dan. It all comes down to which side of the JKD fence you prefer, the side that follows the philosophy behind JKD as it came from Bruce Lee, like Guro Dan, or the side that follows the physical side of JKD as it came from Bruce Lee, like Jerry Poteet.
This is one of the dichotomies. People can akways choose which they prefer - as it should be - but the cmaims of lineage superiority are moot when you consider Jerry did a lot of his training under Guro Dan and was never certified by Bruce to teach. When these lines - and primarily it is JP and TW lineages that do this - claim "True JKD" its akin to a BJJ blue belt claiming he has a better representation of BJJ than a black belt I train with several lineages and we all offer something so it always seems silly when people want a USP for their school they pick the ONE thing Sijo was dead against....dogma
Is it though or is it folks claiming that their teacher has taken a different tangent from Inosanto/ despite learning under him? Like some of the folks in your organisation or a gracie jiu jitsu guy compared to a BJJ guy
That I would have no issue with - but most of them have only around 3 years training with Bruce which is not sufficient to hold yourself up as the "standard bearer" for what is and what isn't JKD. You could use teh GJJ/BJJ analogy, but then it is even WORSE if you have a blue in GJJ telling Marcel Garcia he isn't doing BJJ. Hell even a Black belt in GJJ saying that would be an idiot Doing something different than Guro Dan is fine...claiming what you are doing is "more JKD" or "Authentic JKD" isn't If I broke away from Singh I wouldn't claim I am the "True JKDAA". When we fragmented we did not claim we were "Real PFS" and run down those who were with the original org The claims of "what Bruce did" tend to hinge on those who want to honor what he taught them and preserve it - no issue with that. The WNG are a subset of this in that they call what Bruce did JKD and anything added is stated as being "non JKD material". This is a compromise of sorts, but philosophically makes sense The other group are those who believe that a man who dies at 32 had peaked and there was nothing in there that needed changing, modifying or improving
To be honest I am not sure Bruce Lee would be all that happy with anyone claiming to be teaching the "true JKD" or JKD at all for than matter. He was also not a big fan of stylization either. Don't get me wrong, I liked training it for the brief time I did train it but I have always wondered, based on the things I have read from Bruce Lee, what Bruce Lee would actually think about all these JKD schools and people teaching "their" or "his" style of JKD. BJJ and te Gracies are into branding, I am not exactly sure Bruce Lee was
"Branding" probably not. But I think Lee had a vested interest in describing JKD in terms of what it wasn't. In terms of how it was different from those other things available at that time. And today. That's a form of branding. For all his talk about not fussing over the name, it's still pretty clear that he's not saying "... or do karate; whatever really."
The gracie's are into branding. Not all branches of BJJ are... (BJJ is wider than the gracies) I'm tired of folks thinking BJJ is solely gracie. JKD is wider than bruce lee. Inosanto was a big part of JKD with Lee... watch the Smithsonian video describes their training relationship.
I know BJJ is more than the Gracies and I know Inosanto was a big part of JKD. Saying not sure how Bruce Lee would feel about all the JKD schools around today
Thanks for all the great comments folks. The one school that I contacted warned me about another school in the area that don't aren't approved by the JKD Foundation to teach or issue new belts/sashes. I contacted the foundation to verify this as well as the school I had been chatting with and they verified that everything I was told was accurate. The good thing about that conversation is that it just verified what I felt about that one school anyway. I kept saying that there was something I didn't like about them but couldn't put my finger on it. Now I know.
Belts and sashes!? in JKD!? First I heard of that, but then, I only trained it briefly so it might be out there. But the 3 schools I have seen, don't have them
There is no "JKD Foundation" - there is the "Bruce Lee Foundation" headed by Shannon and Linda I wouldn't wipe my ass on them The school that told you this is selling you a political spin and I instantly dislike them accordingly
