From which martial art did Bruce Lee incorporated the kicks of Jeet Kune Do and his movies?

Question

If you have seen the kicks that Bruce Lee demostrated in movies, videos and books of Jeet Kune Do, he shows many kinds of kicks but I just don't know which fighting style he studied for those.

As far as I'm aware of, his Jeet Kune Do basic style drawn techniques from Wing Chun, English Boxing, Fencing, Freestyle Wrestling, Jiujitsu, and a little of Muay thai (I know it wasn't from muay thai because the style of his kicks, being very fast and many times with the foot and not with the shin).

Anyone knows? I would be thankful for your answers.

Answer 1

Bruce Lee also learned a some kicking techniques from Chuck Norris.  This isn't a joke answer like so many of the other Chuck Norris ones.  You can see clips on YouTube of Chuck Norris training Bruce Lee a little bit in Bruce's backyard.

Answer 2

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Jeet Kune Do basic style drawn techniques from Wing Chun, English Boxing, Fencing, Freestyle Wrestling, Jiujitsu, and Muay Thai

Answer 3

When Bruce went to the US, his knowledge of arts related to almost exclusively Wing Chun. He had picked up a little European fencing from his brother Peter (a fencing champion in Hong Kong). He has also understood some Tai Chi from his father. When I was in Hong Kong, I was told by two people that he has trained in some Dragon style kung fu as he taught a Dragon grandmaster some dancing and was given lessons in exchange. I know there were photographs of Bruce teaching dancing to the guy but not any of him studying Dragon.

At early demonstrations in Seattle, Bruce would demonstrate Praying Mantis forms and a Tam Tui kicking form so he obviously had picked these up as well.

His JKD was really formulated properly when he started teaching in Oakland. This marked his movement from adapted Wing Chun to a seperate art. At this point he had developed a passion for boxing. He adopted the lead hand premise and footwork from fencing. Inputs came from working with judo and jiu-jitsu people. Also his partnership with James Lee would have included some understanding of the skills James had from his training in Sil Lum kung fu.

Bruce had a prodigious library of martial arts texts and film. When he visited Hong Kong in the early sixties, he brought back many books and 16mm film of styles of kung fu.

His understanding of Muay Thai came from reading books and watching film of Muay Thai fights. Some small aspects of JKD did come from this and did some very small aspects of Savate.  The majority of his kicking techniques though came from Wing Chun and Tam Tui. These included the key techniques of the oblique kick, stop kicks, low level side kicks, etc. He did become good friends with Jhoon Rhee which undoubtedly had an influence on his knowledge although there is very little Tae Kwon Do influence in JKD if any. Mostly this part was saved from Bruce's cinematic use.

YOu would be hard pressed to see any other influence on hand techniques than the core aspects of boxing and wing chun. Some of the blocking strategies can be seen as being similar to some Mantis ideas which is possible.

There is absolutely no influence to any real degree of Silat or Escrima/Kali/Arnis. This was only added AFTER his death by Dan Inosanto.

The three schools of JKD in existence at various stages all had their own individual syllabus and own individual personality. Seattle was primarily Wing Chun modified; Oakland was simply the epitomy of what Bruce intended in a martial art and was in many peoples view, uncompromised JKD while LA became a mixture of his JKD and his more flashy cinematic outputs.

Hope that helps.

Answer 4

This thing about bruce incorprating 26 arts is not true. that came from Guro Inosanto. JKD is made up of Wing Chun, boxing and fencing. Sijo Bruce had a massive libray and picked up stuff from his books and friends but he only really used the three systems mentioned.

BTW. Great answew Docroy. Never knew that.

Answer 5

his footwork and movement was from boxing and fencing. his attacks were all wing chun kung fu with some taekwondo kicks.

Answer 6

Bruce Lee studied kicks from several martial arts: Muay Thai, Tang Soo Do, and Savate probably were the most influencial.  Some of the stuff he comes up with is his own creation from watching videos of some 26 styles or systems of martial arts.