# Types of JKD



## DanT (Apr 14, 2017)

Does any one mind explaining the differences in detail between:

Jun Fan Gong Fu
Jun Fan JKD
Jeet Kune Do
Jeet Kune Do Concepts
Classical Jeet Kune Do

I'm really confused about the differences. Detail is appreciated. I always wanted to add JKD to my list but don't know enough about the various types. Thanks.


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## Mou Meng Gung Fu (Apr 14, 2017)

Bruce Lee only ever taught one martial art. However, it was a living martial art that was always growing and changing. The foundation of Bruce Lee's martial art was Wing Chun, Boxing and Fencing, but as he would learn and grow and change, so too would his martial art. Bruce Lee opened up 3 different schools in 3 different places at 3 different times during the evolution of this martial art. He taught a group of students in Seattle what he refered to as the Tao of Chinese Gung Fu, which was the beginning stages of what would later evolve into something. That something became known as Jun Fan Gung Fu or Bruce Lee's martial art. He first taught Jun Fan Gung Fu in Oakland, then later adapted it to his previous students in Seattle who had been trained in the older system. At this time, Bruce Lee and his martial art continued to grow. Then he moved to Los Angeles and opened yet another Jun Fan Gung Fu institute. There he continued to teach his ever growing style to his LA students, occassionally keeping contact with his previous Seattle and Oakland students and keeping them up-to-date. Then some time around 1967, he gave his style a new name and structure. He called his new style Jeet Kune Do, and


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## Mou Meng Gung Fu (Apr 14, 2017)

Mou Meng Gung Fu said:


> Bruce Lee only ever taught one martial art. However, it was a living martial art that was always growing and changing. The foundation of Bruce Lee's martial art was Wing Chun, Boxing and Fencing, but as he would learn and grow and change, so too would his martial art. Bruce Lee opened up 3 different schools in 3 different places at 3 different times during the evolution of this martial art. He taught a group of students in Seattle what he refered to as the Tao of Chinese Gung Fu, which was the beginning stages of what would later evolve into something. That something became known as Jun Fan Gung Fu or Bruce Lee's martial art. He first taught Jun Fan Gung Fu in Oakland, then later adapted it to his previous students in Seattle who had been trained in the older system. At this time, Bruce Lee and his martial art continued to grow. Then he moved to Los Angeles and opened yet another Jun Fan Gung Fu institute. There he continued to teach his ever growing style to his LA students, occassionally keeping contact with his previous Seattle and Oakland students and keeping them up-to-date. Then some time around 1967, he gave his style a new name and structure. He called his new style Jeet Kune Do, and



I'm sorry, my phone is being stupid. But anyways, Bruce Lee revised his previous Jun Fan Gung Fu system to create Jeet Kune Do,which is the art that Bruce Lee taught up until the time of his death. I'm not really an expert on this subject, but to me it seems that all the different names are just reflecting different stages and levels of Bruce Lee's martial art.


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## JR 137 (Apr 14, 2017)

I'm not a JKD guy, so take this as opinion/conjecture rather than fact...

Bruce Lee's name was Lee Jun Fan.  So Jun Fan Kung Fu, Jun Fan JKD, etc. is his personal style name.  Kind of like JR-Ryu Karate if I started it.

From what I've read, I don't think JKD was ever intended to be a complete system, or better yet a rigid structured system.  It was more of take principles or concepts from various arts and making them work for the practitioner.  This is evidenced by no ranks (other than instructors) and I believe no formal syllabus.  It's not like, say, Kyokushin karate where all white belts learn specific kata, hand techniques, kicks, and stances.  Then all blue or orange belts (depending on the group) learn the next techniques.  And on and on.

So with all of this in mind, different teachers teach different things.  There's different lineages in JKD, and the different lineages do different things.  Some incorporate Kali/Escrima, others incorporate ground fighting, some are closer to Wing Chun, etc.  Some are very close to what Lee taught and don't want to change much.  

So the different names probably have a lot to do with the teachers' emphasis.  Then there's philosophical differences that get reflected with different names.

Again, that's a lot of conjecture on my part and not based on any actual JKD experience on my part.

JKD guys and girls - how'd I do?


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## Mou Meng Gung Fu (Apr 15, 2017)

JR 137 said:


> I'm not a JKD guy, so take this as opinion/conjecture rather than fact...
> 
> Bruce Lee's name was Lee Jun Fan.  So Jun Fan Kung Fu, Jun Fan JKD, etc. is his personal style name.  Kind of like JR-Ryu Karate if I started it.
> 
> ...



Close but no cigar...

What you just described was MMA, not JKD, so what's the difference? The syllabus. You said that JKD has no syllabus. That's where you were led astray. If that were the case, then everyone would be JKD practitioners. The fact is, it doesn't matter what they call it. JKD is JKD, plain and simple. The reason those JKD instructors are in fact JKD instructors is because they all teach the same syllabus. Nobody made it up. Bruce Lee created it before he passed away. It's that very syllabus that makes it authentic JKD, as opposed to just a philosophy or MMA system.

- Tao of Chinese Gung Fu
- Jun Fan Gung Fu
- Jeet Kune Do

Bruce Lee had three schools (all three were known as the Jun Fan Gung Fu institute). Each school had a different syllabus. However, as Bruce Lee evolved and created Jeet Kune Do, he told all of his previous students from other schools to discard the old syllabi and adopt the new JKD syllabus. JKD therefore was being practiced at the Jun Fan Gung Fu institute. However, and let me stress this very carefully, Jun Fan Gung Fu is "not" the same as Jeet Kune Do, but rather they are two different styles of the same martial art.

As far as I know, Bruce Lee only ever issued JKD certificates to 3 of his students before doing away with the ranking system entirely. Those student's names are Taky Kimura, Dan Inosanto and Ted Wong, and all three of them were given the same JKD syllabus before Bruce Lee passed away. Again, I'm not an expert on JKD, so I apologize if some of my information isn't entirely 100% accurate. But from just my memory alone, I think it's fairly accurate. I'll let the JKD experts do the rest.


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## Mou Meng Gung Fu (Apr 15, 2017)

Mou Meng Gung Fu said:


> Close but no cigar...
> 
> What you just described was MMA, not JKD, so what's the difference? The syllabus. You said that JKD has no syllabus. That's where you were led astray. If that were the case, then everyone would be JKD practitioners. The fact is, it doesn't matter what they call it. JKD is JKD, plain and simple. The reason those JKD instructors are in fact JKD instructors is because they all teach the same syllabus. Nobody made it up. Bruce Lee created it before he passed away. It's that very syllabus that makes it authentic JKD, as opposed to just a philosophy or MMA system.
> 
> ...



- Tao of Chinese Gung Fu
- Jun Fan Gung Fu
- Jeet Kune Do

Here are the 3 types of certificates Bruce Lee issued to people based on one of three syllabi (from the 3 styles above). I can tell you just by reading the captions in the picture (below) that my memory wasn't 100% accurate before, so please take it with a grain of salt. Being as I'm not really an expert on this subject, I'm just going to shut up now and let the JKD masters do the teaching.


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## Thunder Foot (Apr 26, 2017)

DanT, there were really only two. Bruce's Wing Chun and Jeet Kune Do. Everything else I'd say was just semantics of him trying to find a name for what he was working on and refining.


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## Bino TWT (Aug 5, 2017)

Jun Fan: The early stuff, heavily modified Wing Tsun. These are the Jesse Glover guys.
JKD Concepts: Mostly the Inosanto guys. Basically, take bits and pieces cherry picked from anywhere and put it together and call it JKD. This will vary widely from school to school, and most likely come across as MMA training. These are the main guys you hear complaining about the bondage of "traditional" and "classical" mess.
JKD classical: They pass on exactly what was taught to them by Bruce. These were his "Backyard 5", his private students, etc. They preserved what was given to them and passed it on in the same fashion. This is Taky Kimura, Jerry Poteet, Ted Wong, Daniel Lee, etc. 
The Bruce Lee Clones: These are the guys who train with the Enter the Dragon gloves, yellow suits with the black stripes, and mimic Bruce's movie-style movements like they are his stunt doubles, right down to the sound effects, and always have a philosophical quote, usually involving some relation to water.


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## Dong xiao hu (Aug 11, 2017)

Mou Meng Gung Fu said:


> Close but no cigar...
> 
> What you just described was MMA, not JKD, so what's the difference? The syllabus. You said that JKD has no syllabus. That's where you were led astray. If that were the case, then everyone would be JKD practitioners. The fact is, it doesn't matter what they call it. JKD is JKD, plain and simple. The reason those JKD instructors are in fact JKD instructors is because they all teach the same syllabus. Nobody made it up. Bruce Lee created it before he passed away. It's that very syllabus that makes it authentic JKD, as opposed to just a philosophy or MMA system.
> 
> ...


Actually the three individuals that were given the 3rd rank by Bruce were Taky Kimura, James Yim Lee and Dan Inasanto. Most everyone else was ranked by Dan Inasanto after 1973.

Sent from my Z797C using Tapatalk


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## marques (Aug 12, 2017)

Until someone morre aknowledge comes, here is what (I think) I know. JKD is not a style, but fighting principles, a fighting(?) philosophy, a concept. Jun Fan Kung Fu is actually a style (with the JKD principles) based on what Bruce Lee teached directly to Inosanto and others. JKD Concepts is a style based on JKD principles, but not limited to initial techniques or teachings. It must not be the most accurate answer, but I guess it is what most of people understood before any serious research.


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## FighterTwister (Sep 2, 2017)

DanT said:


> Does any one mind explaining the differences in detail between:
> 
> Jun Fan Gong Fu
> Jun Fan JKD
> ...




I wasn't born yet as I entered the world in 1971 but from what I have understood and what was explained to me is that Bruce Lee got tired of all the drama/disputes and media attention that he got to explain the differences in classic to his modern take.

People wanted to learn his style that he exposed to the world for the first time but did not understand his philosophies the - art of dying. ( NO FEAR - I will explain this in another post soon)

You see this in the messages he portrayed to the public in the movies he made to convey the message of his philosophies and new found art Jeet Kune Do.

In the attempt to move from classical Wing Chun he adjusted the name of his founded art a few times, he also would have added new findings and experiences also and of course  relating back to his actual name to claim authenticity.

Some light reading:- Bruce Lee closed all his schools - Google Search

LoL

I believe this makes more sense to actual events and historical experiences he encountered and what he was trying to achieve and express in his lifetime!

So all above posts are of one account


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## Regroove (Jun 15, 2019)

DanT said:


> Does any one mind explaining the differences in detail between:
> 
> Jun Fan Gong Fu
> Jun Fan JKD
> ...


I thought about this and it is not an easy answer, but here is the details as best as I could find. Thanks for asking, I think it is important to know your lineage: Jeet Kune Do - Regroove Fitness


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