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THE KUNG FU LIBRARY
The Year of the Dragon
April 2000 - Feinting and Drawing in Jeet Kune DO
May 2000 - The Evasive Tactics of Jeet Kune Do
June 2000 - How to keep your Kung Fu from turning into Kickboxing
July 2000 - Face your fears
August 2000 - The Making of a True Martial Arts Master
Every month I will be providing a different article on a specific martial arts related
THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON
FEB. 5, 2000 - JAN. 23, 2001
The Dragon symbolizes wisdom, benevolence, royalty and prosperity. Dragons can change shape and become any creature at will. Rain makers, they fly in the air and chase the sun. The Dragon Year is a time for ambition, power, daring. Everything seems amplified by three times. Some people may become overly optimistic and fall down in this year so it is best to temper one's enthusiasm and ambition no matter how difficult that seems. It's an excellent year to start a business, marry, have children and take a risk. On the world wide scale expect earthquakes, tidal waves and other restless dragons in the earth.
THE DRAGON'S CHARACTER
Dragons are Heaven blessed with strong fates and leadership abilities. Dragons are brave, fierce fighters who don't accept defeat. Dragons, however, are not necessarily masters of detail. They prefer to leave that to others. Often they succeed as entertainers and public figures. Dragons inherit many layers of karma and sometimes have to work them out in one life. They bring intensity to everything they do.
DRAGON COMBINATIONS:
RAT: Mutual trust, affection and passion.
OX: A possible clash. Both strong personalities. The slow and the high flying. But mutual respect.
TIGER: Both love adventure and must work as equals.
RABBIT: Can be a good match with Rabbit's diplomacy.
DRAGON: If balanced, very powerful.
SERPENT: Serpent adds reflection and may try to control the couple.
HORSE: Trouble ahead. Horse's emotions won't tolerate control.
SHEEP: Kindness and goodness, if sheep can toughen up.
MONKEY: The clever and the dreamer. This can be good. Both love business.
PHOENIX: The royal marriage.
DOG: Real trouble. Dragon's opposite. Not impressed.
PIG: Large spenders. Pig loves to splurge on Dragon.
THE WHITE DRAGON
This is the year of the White or Metal Dragon. Some of the keywords associated with this type are: Righteous, Independent, Strong-Willed, Determined, and Focused. This is the warrior dragon like Bruce Lee, the little dragon. He likes fine companions and he likes to win. He can become almost fanatic and too stubborn and demanding. He wants to destroy his enemies so he must temper his actions and feeling with compassion. If he doesn't discipline himself he runs the risk of being too disperse, a dreamer or too intense.
APRIL 2000
Feinting
Feinting is used to deceive an opponent into reacting to the motion of either your hands, your legs, eyes or body. This feint should entice him to change or adjust his defense, and in so doing create a momentary opening for you to launch your real attack into. Your feint will only be effective if it compels your opponent to react to your wishes - It must at all times "appear" to be a real attack.
To prevent or lessen the chance of yourself being countered heavily, all leads should consistently be preceded by feints - However one must make sure that the same feint is not always being used, as your opponent will eventually take advantage of this repetition, and use it as a platform for his counterattack.
The immediate advantage of a feint is that it enables you to gain distance. In other words you can shorten the distance between yourself and your opponent with a lunge, and gain some time from the false attack by causing the opponent to react or hesitate.
Feints will always be more successful AFTER several real, but simple attacks. This will confuse the less mobile opponent who will not know if the attack is real or not. But if your opponent does not respond to your feint, attack with straight or simple movements.
There are various rhythm's that can be used in an attack whilst feinting :-
The "long-short" rhythm or "one-two" feint is used as follows. The initial feint must be long and deep but quick in order to draw the parry, the next response is a short hard hit before he can recover from the false attack.
In the "long-short-short" rhythm or the two feint attack, the first feint must force the opponent to the defense. At that moment the distance is closer for a short feint before delivering a short but real hit.
The "short-long-short" ryhthm is a more advanced form of feinting. The opponent is not induced by the first feint, so the second feint is made long to mislead the opponent into thinking that it is the final thrust of a compound attack, thereby drawing him to parry.
Combinations of feints must be practiced until they become automatic.
Here are some examples of feinting ...
1.Feint a jab to his face and hit him in the stomach.
2.Feint a low sidekick to his shin and deliver a hookkick to his head.
3.Feint a jab to his face and deliver a sidekick to his stomach.
4.Feint two jabs to his face then hit his stomach.
You must train in the use of various types of feints to learn the different reactions from your opponents. Please be sure not to use the same feint all the time - You must always keep your opponent guessing ... Deception is all important !!
Drawing
Drawing is almost like feinting. In drawing, you leave part of your body uncovered to lead the opponent to attack that specific area. As he does, you are prepared to take a defensive measure and are ready to counter his attack effectively.
Drawing as a strategy leads the opponent to respond to your deception and thereby catches him in a trap ... For instance you may retreat quickly to entice the opponent to lunge an attack and as he does you are ready to counter with a specific blow.
Timing is all important in combat as the opponent steps forward, or is drawn into stepping forward. Timing a blow is the secret of powerful hitting, but no one can be a really heavy hitter even with perfect timing, unless he has complete confidence in his own ability
MAY 2000
The Evasive Tactics of Jeet Kune Do
Bruce Lee used to mention that the hands were the primary weapons for attacking and defending. The opponents foot can be contained by the placement of your foot to the opponents and by closing in on him, but the hands are more difficult to contain because they can be thrown from close quarters and from all angles.
Besides parrying, there are other methods that can be used to evade hand attacks such as footwork , slipping, weaving, bobbing, rolling.
Slipping is evading a blow WITHOUT moving out of countering range. Here your timing and judgment must be perfect as the intended blow will only miss by a fraction of an inch , passing over either one of your shoulders.
Slipping a punch enables you to hit harder as you don't first need to block or parry and then counter. After you have slipped the punch you are well within range to counter immediately.
Weaving in sparring means to move your body from side to side and in and out. In the process you also keep slipping any punches directed at your head. This makes your head a very elusive target. The idea is to slip the intended punch to your head, and close in under the completed action of your opponent either to the inside or the outside of his body. Weaving is more difficult than slipping.
Weaving is seldom used by itself, It is usually accompanied by bobbing. Bobbing in fighting is referred to as moving vertically , rather than side to side. The way to bob is to sink under a swing or hook punch in a controlled motion. Remember to keep your hands high and use your knees for motion.
The purpose of bobbing and weaving is to close in on your opponent by sliding under his attack. The master of bobbing and weaving is able to dominate taller opponents. Use broken rhythm and keep your opponent confused at all times.
Rolling is moving your body in such a manner that the oncoming blow is wasted. For instance, against a straight punch and uppercut, you move backward. Against a hook, you move to the left or the right. Against a hammer punch you move downward in a curved motion.
With the use of footwork circling becomes a very effective means of evading incoming punches. Circle either to the left or to the right depending on your attacker. Always try to move away from his rear hand. Therefore against an opponent leading with his right hand, from your on guard position circle to your left and the opposite remains true for an opponent leading with his left hand, circle to your right.
Stepping in and stepping out are offensive maneuvers used to create openings. The strategy is to induce your opponent into complacency so that you can deliver a surprise attack.
Moving in and out, as well as circling your opponent, are both a great means to counter and evade all incoming blows.
Even while you are in the on guard position, your hands and body should be in a continuous motion, slightly bobbing. This will deceive all your camouflage your attack and keep your opponent confused. Learn to be patient at all times whilst sparring and only throw a punch or kick when you are almost certain that it will hit the target with power. Judge your distance correctly before throwing a punch or kick and fire your offense THROUGH your opponent. You must at all times have confidence in your abilities when you spar.
There are so many variables in fighting that you cannot follow through a stringent plan. You have to be flexible as different situations arise.
JUNE 2000
How to keep your Kung Fu from turning into Kickboxing (by Arthur Sennott)
If you are a Kickboxer, there is of course nothing wrong with your sparring looking like Kickboxing. That would of course be quite desirable. If however, you are a Kung Fu practitioner sparring that looks like Kickboxing is quite a problem. unfortunatley, the majority of Kung Fu people do look primarily like Kickboxers when they spar. Falling into this practice is the "Kickboxing Trap". In the following article I'm going to tell you how to avoid the trap altogether, and how to climb out of it, if you've had the misfortune to fall into it.
This syndrome, I call the Kickboxing Trap, is primarily the result of one thing in particular, Ego. People fall into this trap because they fail to see or understand that sparring is a learning and training process, and not a competition. When they see it as a competition, the ego takes over, and they become concerned with winning. When they become concerned with winning, they feel the need to "beat" the person that has now become their "opponent".
When we feel the need to beat someone certain psychological phenomenon tend to affect us. This leads to a variety of small snares, that play a significant role in combining with several other factors to form the Kickboxing Trap. Below is a list of these individual traps, and more importantly, their solutions.
TRAP 1: Trying NOT To Lose
The desire not to lose makes our attacks less frequent and more cautious, one might even say, hesitant. This approach leads to non-committed attacks, characterized by a "probing" type of offense.
While this method may be indicative of what’s seen in some major sporting events, most notably boxing, it is generally the antithesis of what happens in a real life situation. It is important to realize that in the real world, when someone attacks you, they are doing so because they want to hurt you! They are not interested in scoring points. They are not interested in not losing. They are not interested in lasting the full time period to comply with the rules! They are attacking you! They are trying to hurt you, at the very least. They will throw strong, determined attacks, while they might not be over-extended, they will generally be committed. If sparring is to be an effective drill to teach fighting, it must be reflective of this.
When we resort to the "hesitant offense" we severely limit our opponents ability to counter attack. While this is in accord with our wish "not to lose", it does nothing beneficial for the drill, our partner, or ourselves. When we cease to attack our opponent, we deprive him of the chance to truly defend himself. Sparring without the necessity or ability to defend oneself is a one sided drill at best.
As we become the hesitant attacker, we tend to psychologically manipulate our partner into one of two roles. Either he mirrors our approach, making the drill completely useless, or he becomes overly aggressive, in the hope that "something will happen". Creating the over aggressive attacker has more benefit than the passive participant, but not much. The overly aggressive attacker changes his methods, and ceases to practice "his" art, depriving him of the ability to practice what he needs. Again leaving this as a one sided drill, at best. Furthermore, the aggressive and careless attacks you are likely to get at this point, are of a lower skill level than your partner is really capable of, which decreases the value of the drill for you as well.
Trap 1: Solution
So how do we fix the trap? We fix the trap by subduing our ego. We fix the trap by offering our partner some legitimate attacks to work against. We need to not worry so much if he scores. We need to create an atmosphere where its understood that people will "offer" such things. Hopefully, your partner will begin to participate. When you become non-competitive, he will have nothing to compete against, then the training can begin.
Furthermore, by giving your opponent something he can potentially defend against, it allows you to develop your counterattack skills, and the ability to work from a disadvantageous position. Now we have a drill that is not only beneficial to two sides, but beneficial to those sides on multiple levels of depth.
TRAP 2: We Try To Move Faster Than The Opponent.
In our desire to score, or look good, there is a tendency to try to speed up faster than the opponent. At first glance this may seem advantageous and desirable, but it is actually neither.
If we do not examine the concept closely, we may be fooled into thinking that common sense tells us that "beating the opponent to the punch" is ideal. However, if we examine this idea more closely, especially in terms of sparring, we will see that this is not true.
There are two aspects of this trap. They can manifest individually or jointly. They are:
A) If our opponent is moving slower than full speed when sparring, or is a slower opponent than we might face on the street, then scoring a technique by speeding up creates a false sense of success. Had the real life opponent been moving at full speed, the technique would not have worked. Some may argue that you could just speed up too, but this is erroneous, because you are already moving at full speed, and cannot go faster, than you can ultimately go.
When sparring, you must move no faster than the tempo of the present relationship, to do otherwise will lead to an incorrect view of skill, and a false sense of success. If we achieve a false sense of success, then we have received incorrect feedback, and our training will be flawed.
Additionally, a false sense of accomplishment undermines self worth, confidence and respect. Martial Arts should build these traits, not destroy them.
B) As we move closer to our fastest speed, the ability to see new things, and emerging opportunities decreases. Our speed of movement is proportional to our "speed of sight". If we move slowly, we see other things move slowly. If we move quickly, we see other things move quickly.
If we can move slower than our partner, we will see more openings and opportunities. We will have a greater chance to explore and try new things. This opportunity to experiment is one of the things that allows good Kung Fu practitioners to apply the movements of their forms to their sparring, rather than falling into "Kickboxing Trap".
Furthermore, when we practice at too fast a pace, we will tend to revert to "what we know". This keeps us from exploring what we do not know i.e. how to use proper Kung Fu applications. In addition, this reduction in the ability to see new opportunities will mentally reinforce our belief that there is no place to insert those "fancy" applications from the forms. We have created a self fulfilling prophecy, that dooms us to the "Kickboxing Syndrome".
C) Attempting to move too quickly during sparring, decreases our amount of mental and physical control over our bodies, and forces us to divert too much of our attention into this regulating process. When this attention is diverted it is frequently taken away from our ability to remember our assigned/chosen roles for the individual sparring session. Ceasing to play our assigned role for the other participant in the sparring session, we in effect become his opponent rather than his partner. This leads to many of the same problems that result from the "Trying Not To Lose Trap".
TRAP 2: Solution
There are two very simple fixes for all aspects of this trap. The first is to ask your partner to go as slow as you need to go, in order to keep your eyes open to all possibilities. The second is to always move the same speed or slower than your opponent regardless of the rate he is going.
TRAP 3: Undefined Goals
The last major issue which tends to drag sparring down to the level of a poor quality Kickboxing match, is undefined goals. Remember, in a real situation, the attacker has a goal, otherwise, he wouldn’t be attacking you. That goal might be to hurt you, kill you, rape you, kidnap you, detain you, or a variety of other intents. When we spar without defined goals, we once again deprive our partner of anything to defend against.
Some may say the goal of sparring is to win. While that may be a goal for a competition, it is not a goal of proper sparring. Even if winning were a legitimate goal of sparring, it is too broad-based an idea to be of substantive value in training. Winning and scoring points do not represent concrete achievable tasks for combat preparation. What wins a point or match, in a wrestling bout, could ultimately loose you a Judo match, so you see winning and points are arbitrary and theoretical.
When trying to practice productive sparring, it is necessary to have defined, concrete goals, that can be seen, felt or discussed, and that are specific. Only in this way can success be measured, and appropriate benefit be given to our partner. There are an infinite amount of these types of defined goals.
TRAP 3: Solution
To fix this trap you must cease to engage in vague sparring practices. Create goal oriented sparring exercises, and practice them. Its useful sometimes to have a referee to secretly assign goals to the participants, as this keeps them from falling into Trap 1: Trying NOT To Lose. Think of it as a game of capture the flag, its always more fun if the flag is a little hidden.
I shall include a few examples, but it should be understood that the list is limitless. These goals are for one of the participants, it usually works better if the second participant has a different, but complimentary goal, however, depending on the circumstances, they could be the same.
Sparring Goal Examples
1. Attempt to get a headlock
2. Attempt to go to the ground
3. Keep from going to the ground
4. Evade opponent with out any contact (and without running away;)
5. Trap or immobilize your opponents arms
6. Defend without moving your stance or legs
7. Try to drag or push your opponent over a defined line (good for anti-kidnap work:)
8. Avoid using any striking techniques, while opponent tries to strike you
9. Avoid using any grappling techniques, while opponent tries to grab you
10. Try to disarm your opponent (for our Kali friends)
CONCLUSION
Okay that pretty much concludes this assessment of the common traps that people fall into when sparring. If you follow the presented advise you should be able to turn your sparring into a productive practice that compliments, improves, and works synergistically with your forms. As I end this piece, I’ll leave you with a short checklist of the things you need to do to improve your sparring productivity.
CHECKLIST
1. Try to be a partner rather than an opponent
2. Communicate your needs with your partner
3. Move as slowly as you need to
4. Design and participate in goal defined sparring.
JULY 2000
This month I have provided a wonderful article which has been written by a most humble and knowledgeable man, Sifu Burton Richardson - Enjoy !!
Face your fears
What is it that keeps people from living their lives and pursuing their dreams? What is the element that causes so much anxiety and feelings of failure in people all over the world? By the title of this column you have probably figured out that it is fear. Fear can be an ugly word that holds connotations of the worst that life has to offer. But what is it that we really fear? Pain. We all want to avoid pain in our lives. We want to feel good and skip the bad altogether, so we avoid pain by throwing different situations into the fear pile. Whether we group it as fear of physical injury, humiliation, loss of money, or loss of time, the truth is that we are just trying to avoid pain. We are afraid to do certain things because the results of those actions will be very painful to us. So how can we get past this fear?
The first step in achievement of any goal is honesty. This is true in martial arts or learning to play the piano. Before we start on the journey of self-improvement, and during that journey, it is vital that we occasionally take the time for introspection and self-analysis. This means taking a good long look in the mirror to take note of where you really are right now, and determine how you are going to get to where you want to go. For example, let's say that you are taking martial arts, and you decided that you want to be a complete martial artist. You took the time to check your progress in the different areas of conflict, and you determined that your greatest weakness was in groundfighting. You aren't totally helpless, as you know a few techniques on the ground, but you have seen enough no holds barred competitions to realize that you have serious limitations in that range. Great. You were honest enough with yourself to find a limitation in your training, and have decided to get some training to improve yourself.
Time goes by, and one day you notice that you have not taken any steps toward actually starting your training. This is strange, since you were pretty excited about the thought of becoming a good groundfighter. In truth, you didn't even take the time to look for a school. As you think about it, you notice that you are still hesitating. What is it that keeps you from making a simple telephone call? It is our constant nemesis, fear! You are avoiding taking action towards your goal because somewhere inside of you, possibly deep within your subconscious, you believe that starting you groundfighting classes will be a painful experience. This is where honesty comes in again. First you must be honest with yourself about your weaknesses, and second you must be honest about the fears associated with overcoming the weakness. If you do not take this step to recognize the fears, you will never be able to take action and move towards your goal.
So you stop and think about this logically. What are you afraid of? What could it be? Are you afraid of the new environment? That doesn't make sense. You find yourself in new environments all the time. Maybe the training is physically painful. It must hurt to have people putting you in locks, and laying on top of you. But your current training involves contact, so it can't be that. Let's say that after some soul searching, you decide that it is your ego that is keeping you from starting up. You have been doing martial arts for quite a few years now, and you enjoy the feeling of being one of the top students at your school. Your real fear is that you don't want to be humiliated. You are afraid that you will look bad in front of all the students at the new school. You are afraid to be a beginner because the other students may laugh at you or make fun of your lack of skill. You don't like being humiliated, so something within you has kept you from that environment. After more thought, you decide that this is no way to live your life. You do not want your life to be directed by fear, so you decide that you have to so something about the situation.
Congratulations. You have just done what very few will do in this life. You took the time to honestly recognize your fears, and decided that you want to overcome that fear. Now comes the hard part. You must take the final step, and face your fear. Identifying and deciding to do away with your fear is easy compared to actually confronting the situation that you are afraid of. This will require courage and commitment. You must commit to going to the class, and have the courage to follow through regardless of how much anxiety you feel in the process. Remember that courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to act even though you are fearful. Be courageous, face your fears, and an amazing thing will happen.
Let's say that you made the phone call, got the information, and went to that first class. You walked into the small school that was basically a wrestling mat and a phone. You see students in a sweaty, tangled knot of arms, legs, and uniforms. You realize at this point that you really know nothing at all about this groundfighting. It is worse than you thought! Your heart is pounding and you are looking for a way to leave when the instructor approaches you. He greets you with a smile and a handshake and invites you to get changed and try your first class. Even though you have your workout bag in your hand, you hear yourself say that you just came to watch. Boy, that fear has some power! It spoke up for you! The instructor kindly coaxes you to just try, and that you will have fun. It is difficult to say no, so you walk to the bathroom to change. You do so, but very slowly, somehow hoping that you will be late for the class and that you can just sit and observe. You finally emerge from your temporary sanctuary to see that the room has been filled with even more students. What will they think of me? Will I have to spar? Are they all out to get the new guy? You have not started your warm-ups, but the sweat is already trickling down your forehead. Class starts, you do the calisthenics, and immediately begin to feel better. I can do this part, you tell yourself. The instructor goes into a technique, which for you is complicated. Again, you feel the fear that you will look bad because you don't understand what the instructor wants you to do. He tells the students to pair up, and then brings a student to work with you. The instructor says to start just with the position, and forget the armbar. You work through class, and become lost in the learning process. You do some sparring at the end of class, and even though you were pretty much helpless, your partner gave you some tips and you now understand the game even better. With class over, you feel great that you have learned many things that you never knew about before. You have faced your fears, and feel a great relief with the knowledge that you are now progressing towards your goal, and you are enjoying it!
So what took so long to try the class? Fear, right? Yes, but if we look a little deeper, we will have a better insight into the fear process, and will be able to short-circuit it more easily. Remember that what we call fear is the association of a great deal of pain with an action or situation. If you are avoiding something, it is because you are afraid of it, which means that you somehow associate pain with that situation. There are two ways that we associate pain with different situations. One is through a painful experience that we have had in the past in a similar situation, and the second is through imagination. We often imagine the pain without even having experience with the situation, and create a fear that stifles our ability to act. This is a good thing in the proper situation. You should be afraid of jumping off of a tall building, even though you have never done this before. The problem is that we can imagine all sorts of negative scenarios about any situation. If we focus on the negative rather than the positive, we will become slaves to the evil master named fear. After facing your fears, you will probably wonder why you were so afraid in the first place. In the case of the groundfighting school, thousands of people train on the mat every day, so it can't be that bad. Look at your fear logically, and it will diminish. Face your fears up front and personal, and they will shrink substantially.
Be honest with yourself. Recognize your weak points, and identify your fears. Have the courage to face those fears, and you will be unstoppable. Remember that most fears are just negative visualization, and that changing that vision to a positive one may be all you need to take steps towards living the life you have always dreamed of living!
Burton Richardson
AUGUST 2000
The Making of a True Martial Arts Master
The title of "Master" is used so frequently in the martial arts community that it has lost a lot of its true meaning. In the past, the term "Master" was a title of respect bestowed on someone whom the community recognized as eminently skilled in the practice of a particular style of martial art. Most "Masters" were older, as they had practiced martial arts most of their lives and had developed a very high level of skill. Some had created new systems of combat or had improved on an existing one over the course of their years of study One thing was certain: anyone who was considered a "Master" could expect challenges to combat from other practitioners and even prospective students. The title was something of a liability as well as an honor. This stands in stark contrast to the use of the term today by self-appointed "Masters" and even "Grand Masters." So how do we recognize a "Master" if we should encounter one? Fortunately, there are some readily identifiable traits and character that a true "Master" possesses.
Skill is one such characteristic. As mentioned previously, a true Master should exhibit a high level of skill that comes from years of practice and attempts toward perfection. Movement should be not only fast, but more importantly, fluid and smooth. Observe a first year student's movements and then compare them to those of a more advanced practitioner. The difference between the two should be obvious. Similarly, there should be a significant difference between the advanced practitioner and a Master. While the differences may seem less obvious to the unskilled eye, the advance practitioner marvels at the difference between himself and the Master. This type of skill is obtained only after years of dedicated practice and sacrifice.
Open mindedness is another attribute of a true Master. It is absolutely essential in order to achieve a high level of ability in the martial arts. Without it, it is impossible to learn an art properly. The "I'll do it my way attitude" can be self-defeating. While learning a martial art, it is necessary to look at all it has to offer before making any judgments about it. Often, it is hard to conceptualize an art unless time is spent learning it as it is taught. Only after you have spent a number of years learning and practicing your art should you make any judgments about its merit. Without "emptying your cup" it is difficult to learn.
Coachability is the ability to listen and learn. When learning a new skill, don't dismiss it by saying that it is the same as technique number 59 from the "Know It All Do" style. Most likely, it is not technique number 59. Look at the setup, positioning and timing in which it is used. Many times these areas are what separate technique number 59 from the technique in the art being learned.
Willingness to put on a white belt year after year, decade after decade is an important trait. There is no "best" martial art. It there were, why would there be so many different styles? Some are "best" for kicking. Some are "best" for punching or trapping or grappling and some are "best" suited for weaponry. While contradictory to most traditional martial arts, cross training in the martial arts can help fill in the gaps.
A true martial arts Master is without ego. Usually, the martial artist who does the most talking about his/her deadly skills is also the martial artist who is most insecure. The true master has no need to boast. Actions speak louder than words.
One of the best examples of a martial arts master is Dan Inosanto. He is humble, down to earth, kind and possesses legendary skills. Looking at his background, that should come as no surprise. He began training in Okinawa Te and Ju-Jitsu at the young age of ten. He then took up Judo with Duke Yoshimura in 1957 and then Chito-Ryu in 1959.
In 1961, he met a person who would have an impact on his life forever. The man's name was Ed Parker, the "Father of American Karate." Parker introduced Inosanto to Bruce Lee in 1964 at the International Karate Championships. Inosanto was in charge of showing Bruce around town. After taking Bruce back to his hotel, the two continued their discussion of martial arts throughout the night until the early morning hours. Bruce offered to spar Inosanto. The rules? Bruce would use only his jab against all of Inosanto's empty handed tools. The results? Inosanto instantly became a dedicated student of Bruce Lee!
Lee must have found something he liked in Inosanto. Inosanto quickly became one of Lee's best friends and his top student. While Lee was away filming movies, Inosanto took over the teaching duties. Inosanto was instrumental in helping Lee with the development of the concepts and theories of Jeet Kune Do. JKD was a revolutionary way of approaching the study and practice of martial arts. Instead of being bound by one specific style, Lee and Inosanto studied a variety of martial arts. Once the strengths and weaknesses of each style were understood, the weaknesses were discarded while the strengths remained within their own personal methods. The objective was not to develop a new "style" but to develop a martial arts method that will work for the individual. Because of genetic makeup (speed, timing, size, strength, endurance, etc.) and personal preference, martial artists should not be molded into the same robotic mode of self-defense. Each person is different, and therefore will express themselves somewhat differently.
Today, Inosanto keeps busy running his martial arts academy in Los Angeles. He also travels the world 48 weekends a year teaching the martial arts. Not only is he the leading authority on Jun Fan/Jeet Kune Do, but he is also instructor certified in over 20 different styles of Filipino Martial Arts. He is President of the Shoot Wrestling Association, instructor certified in Thaiboxing, Krabi Krabong, Wing Chun, Kenpo Karate, Shorin Ryu Karate, Tai Chi, several styles of Indonesian, Malaysian, and Filipino Silat, Jeet Kune Do, and many more. With an empty cup he continues to learn new styles and methods. One of his latest endeavors is the study of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Dan Inosanto is without a doubt a true martial arts master. He is void of any ego and possesses world class skill. If you ever have the opportunity to meet this living legend, do it. You won't be sorry.
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