Frequently Asked Questions

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Q. Are there black belts in Jeet Kune Do?

A. No, Black belts are rankings provided in a range of Asian based martial arts (karate, judo, tae kwon do etc) If someone says they have a black belt in JKD give him a miss.

Q. Is Jeet Kune Do a style of martial Arts?

A. No Jeet Kune Do is not a style – this is best summed up by Brandon Lee in this interview extract from ‘Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do’

"… Jeet Kune Do was my father’s very personal expression of the martial arts.

He intended it to kill a lot of sacred cows. So I always feel a little bit silly saying that I practice Jeet Kune Do, although I certainly have been trained in it.

It would be more accurate to say that I practice my own interpretation of Jeet Kune Do, just as, frankly, everyone who practises Jeet Kune Do does. Because that’s what it was intended to be.

Dan Inosanto, my sifu, always talks about teaching Jeet Kune Do concepts. In other words, teaching someone the concepts, a certain way of thinking, behind the martial arts, as opposed to teaching them techniques.

To me, that kind of illustrates the difference between giving someone a fish, and teaching them how to fish. You know, that story. Right?

You can teach someone a certain block, and then they have that block. … Or you can teach someone the concept that lies behind such a block. And then you have given them an entire area of thinking that they can grow and evolve in, … themselves. They can think; ah, gee, so, that’s the concept. Then you could probably … also do this. Right? And that’s, I think, a lot of what lies behind Jeet Kune Do. And that is then dedicated to creating a really creative, free-form, martial artist".

Q. How many Jeet Kune Do Instructors did Bruce Lee Certify?

A. In his lifetime Bruce Lee only authorised three people to teach on his behalf, they were James Lee, Taky Kimura and Dan Inosanto. James Lee passed away before Bruce Lee. Taky Kimura was certified as the most senior instructor in Jun Fan Gung Fu. Dan Inosanto was the only man Bruce Lee certified as an instructor in Jeet Kune Do.