Category: Jeet Kun Do

I had a few email exchanges with my friend D.R. recently about my intention to revive my martial arts practice as an exercise and had shared with him my recent findings on the Chinese arts, e.g., Wing Chun, thus Bruce Lee, and his spin-off, Jeet Kun Do (JKD). He asked when I’d be available for a Zoom meet, and I had wanted to wait until my Arabic test was over.

The test was past Monday 19 April 2021, so we arranged for a session that afternoon. It turns out that (among other things) he was curious what had got me thinking about JKD, as that was so radically different from what either of us had done before, and intended primarily as a hard fighting style for real situations.

I explained my interest in Chinese aspects of martial arts, the research I’d done (I’m posting this on a fixed page, currently in progress), and so on. He then shared with me something he’s been pursuing called Hakutsuru Kenpo.¹⁾This programme is aimed strictly at black belts of whatever style, so it’s a good match for me, as it happens, in that regard. It’s an Okinawan thing too, and more similar to his original style (Shorin-ryu) than mine (Shorinji-ryu), but is supposed to be a reconstruction of some kind of Chinese system known as White Crane, and he sent me links to two videos where he introduces it to his students.

I don’t have much interest in systems and ranks and the like, and I particularly like the JKD idea of ‘cross-pollination’ (my word) and taking what works for oneself and leaving the rest. So, exposure to this is just fine with me.

Yesterday, I did the warm-ups; first time I’ve done anything methodical like that in years. So, but the time I was done, I could feel all my muscles and joints as though I’d done a full karate session! And, btw, we’re talking stretches and the like, nothing cardio like push-ups, sit-ups, or what not. But it was a good feeling. I then went to the back yard later in the day, and did some drills against a tree (ostensibly designed to toughen the arms just behind the wrists; don’t worry, without harm to the tree). That worked fairly well, though I hit a knot at one point and did end up with a bit of a bruise.

Today, I watched the video again, did the drill, and used the telephone pole in the front of the house rather than the tree. That works better. I had avoided it yesterday as there are many cars and I felt a bit self-conscious, but tuffy-shitsky, I’ll just have to get over that.

Then I watched the second video, where he demonstrated some other exercises, and one kata (formalized sequence of techniques for practicing) and one kumite (two person version of same, though he demonstrated each person separately, as one will have to do in the short term anyway).

I tried that. The similarity to his style was very clear, and when I attempted the same thing, my motions and so on were rather different. That’s good, in a way, since it suggests that my body was well trained the first time around. It makes it hard to change the routine, but I’m not altogether sure I need to do that. We’ll see how it goes.

In the fall, he plans to offer a two-hour session via Zoom every month on the second Saturday, I believe. I think I’ll join that, since it’s much easier to keep motivated as part of a group than to try to do everything solo. So between now and then, it’s about improving my condition and learning the basics.