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Jeet Kune Do

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Western Fencing

Sijo Bruce Lee read thousands of books on various fighting systems, but the majority of books in his personal library were either Western Fencing or Western Boxing titles. These were the volumes that were most heavily underlined and annotated by Bruce. These were the arts that were most subject to his scrutiny. And these arts form the foundation of Jeet Kune Do.

JKD Bruce Lee's martial art is about dynamic and explosive footwork that can be applied to enhance your stand up game regardless of your background. JKD at it's highest level is about delivery and avoidance with emphasis "in delivery" on full body weight, mass accelerated movement and recovery! The hybridism of fencing and boxing expressions were pivotal in the Bruce Lee’s process of Jeet Kune Do.

While Bruce Lee analyzed many fighting styles, this does not mean he incorporated all of them into his arsenal. Arguments of whether or not Jeet Kune Do is a style aside, Jeet Kune Do is the name that Bruce Lee gave to the fighting techniques and strategies he was developing and employing. It was what he was doing – how he was most efficiently using arms, legs, body weight, tactics, and the laws of physics – to fight.

True, there are philosophical principles that guide the physical side of Jeet Kune Do, but we must never forget that Jeet Kune Do is about doing, about action – very specific action. That action is comprised of the Jeet Kune Do techniques developed by Bruce Lee himself.

Contrary to common misconception, Bruce Lee did not merely take techniques from various arts and throw them together. He studied and tested very specific elements, and essentially, these were elements from two arts – Western Fencing and Western Boxing. Jeet Kune Do’s stance, footwork, and major strategic points come from fencing. A key principle in fencing, the stop-hit, is essentially the Jeet Kune Do namesake – the way of the intercepting fist. The idea that you can set up your opponent so that you will be able to intercept him in his most vulnerable state – on the attack – is central to the work of fencing authors Aldo Nadi and Julio Martinez Castello, both of whom are quoted heavily in Bruce Lee’s Tao of Jeet Kune Do.

For body mechanics and maximum generation of power, Bruce turned to boxers Edwin Haislet, Jack Dempsey and Jim Dricsoll. Again, all three are heavily quoted in Bruce’s writings. Jeet Kune Do’s fist jab, proper alignment, striking surface, hip rotation, and kinetic chain sequence all come from boxing. Even with the heavy influence of both sports, however, it’s important to note that Jeet Kune Do is neither fencing nor boxing. To technically explain this would be beyond the scope of this writing, but it’s important to remember that Bruce never lifted techniques wholesale from other arts for the sake of accumulating new techniques. Each weapon was subject to scientific analysis, modified, and tested in fighting situations.

Jeet Kune Do’s relationship with Fencing
One of the cornerstones of Jeet Kune Do, fencing is an Olympic sport that demands absolute concentration. It calls for craftiness and and an economy of hand and arm movements whilst developing analytical minds and the tactical awareness to do “battle”. As such, fencing could be described as “physical chess” executed at lightning speed.

The technology behind Jeet Kune Do
From the concept of Interception, to the Five Ways of Attack, to the On-guard stance and footwork, Bruce Lee borrowed heavily from the sport of Western Fencing to enhance his fighting technology. In fact, his brother, Peter Lee, was a high level fencing competitor. Bruce Lee’s book collection included many books on Fencing; he considered the art worthy of an in-depth study. What then is fencing and how did it contribute to the development of Jeet Kune Do?

Anyone who has taken the time to study Bruce Lee’s “Tao of Jeet Kune Do” will realise that without an understanding of Fencing’s basic concepts, it becomes highly challenging to understand much of the later parts of the book. In particular, the chapters on preparations & mobility are heavily laced with Fencing terminology & methodology.

For example, ”Sweep away the thrust from the target by the shortest route (with your shoulder relaxed) – counter of sixte is taken by moving the hand clockwise, while counter of quarte will require a counter clockwise rotation of the blade” are meaningless without understanding just what “sixte” and “quarte” are. What they are in fact is Fencing’s equivalent to Wing Chun’s “high outside gate” and “high inside gate”. Pages 135 through 137 describe in detail the beat, bind, croise, envelopment & the pressure – all fundamental Fencing techniques.

The core principles of JKD that have been directly influenced by Fencing include:

Interception – the stop hit is considered the highest level of skill in both systems. An attacker is most vulnerable when his mind is focused on his own attack. Bruce Lee considered the stop-hit so important that he named his system after it. Jeet Kune Do – “The Way of the Intercepting Fist”, is a name that embodies the highest level of what a Fencer knows as “Attack on Preparation” or attacking as the opponent prepares his attack.

Footwork – both systems use small economical step/slide footwork to give the practitioner a highly evolved system of mobility and tool delivery. Advanced footwork methods in both systems, such as JKD’s “Burning Step” and Fencing’s “Balestra” bear a striking similarity. It was the fencer’s ability to gain ground so quickly that sparked much of Bruce Lee’s interest in Fencing.

Sliding leverage - the coulé, glissade and the froissement; the ability to simultaneously defend & counter is common to many systems including Bruce Lee’s core art of Wing Chun. The realisation that the two systems shared common theories may have spurred on his research into the sword arts.

Timing, rhythm & cadence – A fencer needs not only incredible speed, but also the ability to manipulate that speed. Great timing is needed to open up the opponent’s defences with the calculated use of cadence. Once an opponent’s cadence has been realised, it is exploited by using broken rhythm and feints.

The 5 Ways of Attack (Fencing equivalent in brackets)
The above are best described as follows:
Single Angular Attack – (Single Attack)
Attack by Combination – (Compound Attack)
Attack by Drawing – (Invitation / False Attack / Second Intention)
Progressive Indirect Attack – (Indirect Attack / Feint Indirect)
Immobilization Attack – (Attacks on the blade – Attack au Fer / Prise de Fer)

Western Fencing & Jeet Kune Do
The Eastern martial arts and their influences have been stated and analyzed throughout the past two decades in the examination of Jeet Kune Do. Since the propositions exist that JKD is American, yet borrows heavily from other Eastern arts, where and how does Western Fencing enter into the equation?

In the original synopsis that he was drawing up while attending the University of Washington, JKD founder Bruce Lee stated he was working on a new martial arts program or concept. This idea was to merge the mind and body into one cohesive unit. One of the first physical arts mentioned was Western fencing.

Fencing is an art which requires more than just the physical attributes of quickness, athletic prowess, cunning and lightning hand/eye coordination. It is both a Western (and Olympic) sport that is attractive and alien due to the unavailability of both instructors and salons (training facilities) in the United States.

It’s in the Tao of Jeet Kune Do
The analogies bonding the influences both directly and indirectly between fencing and JKD are quoted in the fractured, yet absorbing thesis known as the Tao of Jeet Kune Do.

This formidable treatise on Lee’s concepts of the complete fighting art directly observes the similarities between the two. And makes note of it throughout its rendering. One of the first analogies is that of the fencer’s foil. Equated to that of the lead (right) hand of the JKD practitioner, it is the single most important tool in both arts. Fast, evasive, and able to hit both high and low lines. The lead hand in JKD is Western sword fencing without the sword.

This lead hand must be mobile and able to penetrate deep within the opponent’s lines, sometimes obscuring his vision so as to enter into a combination sequence.

In foil competition, the foil is used as a probing tool, engaging and disengaging the opponent’s blade, using the sensitivity or energy of the opponent’s blade as a reference point. This includes moving inside, outside or feinting an attack to gain a committal action based on these probing nuances.

Everything in JKD can and does work off the integrity of the lead hand. The jab. The cross. The hooks, counters, stop hits and traps. This is similar to the fashion in which the foil allows the fencer to counter or stop hit based on its initial probing with the blade. In context, both the eye jab in JKD and the blade in general are said to be felt and not seen. Each illustratrates the lightning swiftness needed to execute lead hand movements.

Best Foot Forward
Further examination yields the following relationship dealing with footwork. The on-guard stance or by jong in JKD is a modified variation of wing chun and Western boxing basic foot positions. However, more elemental is the stance itself. Often controversial, Lee believed in the strong side forward position. Critics argue that conventional boxing and some, if not most, fighting arts utilize an orthodox or left-side forward position. This saves your strong punch or right hand to be used after the setting up of your opponent.

In relation to fencing, Lee realized the dominant hand is the one cradling the foil. It would be fruitless for a fencer to switch the foil during a match; switching leads would yield little impact in the way of scoring on an opponent without your fastest, most economical tool.

However, when dealing with empty-hand fighting Lee believed this should not be written in stone. In JKD the ability to adapt and change leads within the course of an engagement may be beneficial to outwitting a clever foe. Thus, matching unlike or like leads can open lines or gates not previously available.

The basic footwork patterns such as the step and slide, slide and step, and even the JKD straight blast (jit chung chuie) reflect the extend advance, quick advance and Flesche (running attack) in fencing.

We also have seen an exchange between the two arts in the way of terminology. However, if true to the premise that more than a subtle relationship exists between JKD and fencing. What attributes are gained through this association?

Let us first examine the methodology of “getting to” an opponent. By discovering the proper angle of attack through correct timing and line (high or low) choice, you can bridge the gap to close-range fighting.

As previously mentioned, basic step and slide or slide and step footwork will advance you toward your opponent. Utilizing the footwork from fencing entails utilizing the attributes of pushing off the rear foot. Thus, the rear foot in JKD acts as an accelerator or piston in which to propel you smoothly and rapidly forward. This footwork is supplemented with one of the most basic elements in fencing feints.

Compound Attack
Not only do they allow you to close the distance in your initial attack, but as in fencing, they allow you to compound the attack with one or more moves (but no more than three).

Employed in feinting is the concept of high/low attack. This feigning of one line to hit another is analogous to the sectors that the body (trunk) is divided up into in fencing.

One may use a false or deceptive movement into one line with his blade to draw a response or indirectly attack another line.

Both concepts of feints and direct or progressive indirect attacks are modeled into the methodology of JKD’s five ways of attack. They also allow one to be noncommittal in one’s attack and adjust or flow based on the energies exhibited by the opponent.

This relationship between fencer and JKD practitioner is illustrated and exemplified time and time again with JKD enhancing the others distinct attributes. These attributes are what Bruce Lee considered the highest form of JKD training. And the sensitivity Lee gathered from his earliest form of training wing chun’s chi sao greatly employs many of these same energy or sensitivity movements of fencing.

Cohesion with the opponent, getting in enough to feel his energy and be receptive to it. This JKD facet is similar to the force of the fencer’s blade moving under and over his opponent’s. By forming a preliminary analysis he has discovered what type of fighter he is facing. With JKD it is this realm of cohesion or clinching that forms reference points and allows the practitioner to immobilize or trap his opponent’s hands. This trapping skill is one of the most important features in JKD, whereas in fencing the foil is used to create these energy reference points, employing the slide, bind or coupe as a immobilizing way of attack.

Western foil fencing permeates throughout JKD with similar phrases, movements, line of attack, immobilization techniques, footwork and forced action. Lee realized the lightning-quick strokes and riposte in fencing were ideal for jeet kune do. Actually, it’s such a perfect fit, one wonders why the two arts were not integrated before.

Anyone who has taken the time to study the classic work "Tao of Jeet Kune Do" will realise that, without an understanding of Fencing's basic concepts, it is impossible to understand much of the later parts of the book. In particular, the chapters on preparations & mobility are heavily laced with Fencing terminology & methodology. Passages like… "Sweep away the thrust from the target by the shortest route (with your shoulder relaxed) - counter of sixte is taken by moving the hand clockwise, while counter of quarte will require a counter clockwise rotation of the blade" are meaningless without understanding just what "sixte" and "quarte" are. What they are in fact is Fencing's equivalent to Wing Chun's "high outside gate" and "high inside gate", as we shall see in a future article! Pages 135 through 137 describe in detail the beat, bind, croise, envelopment and the pressure - all fundamental Fencing techniques.

Obviously JKD has a much larger field of application than Fencing - many of fencing's methods needed heavy modification to allow for the translation to unarmed combat, for example…

The fighting measure - a good appreciation of the range of engagement is a key feature in both Fencing and JKD. Obviously a Fencer is "in range" a good deal further out than an unarmed fighter (unless you have the closing speed of Bruce Lee that is!) The classic "engagement in sixte" in Fencing is identical in all but range to the familiar "high outside reference point" often used in the early stages of trapping training. This gives both the fencer and the Jun Fan Gung Fu / JKD practitioner a base by which to appreciate pressure & sensitivity, or as we say in Fencing "Sentiment de Fer" - Feeling through the blade.

Use of all limbs - A modern fencer has one weapon, his sword. The transition to JKD involves the consideration of other such as the other hand & the feet. These tools were, no doubt, part of Fencing at an earlier time. The use of the Rapier & Dagger, and the method known as "Florentine" in particular bear a close resemblance to many two handed trapping combinations, albeit at a longer range.
 

The Stop-Hit - A stop-hit can be classed as an "Interception" or "Attack on Preparation". That is, we attack as our opponent is preparing to launch his attack or we attack into his attack in such a way that we arrive at the target first. This is much more than just a technique, it is a strategy so important that Bruce Lee saw fit to name his method after it. Jeet Kune Do - The Way of the Intercepting Fist, could easily be taken as "The way of the Stop-Hit".

In simple terms, a stop-hit means beating your opponent to the punch. You beat him by employing superior timing, and sometimes but not always superior speed (It is not how fast it travels but how soon it arrives!). The characteristics of the stop-hit are…

It must land a period of "fencing time" before the final movement of the opponents attack. I will go into more detail on the timing involved within Fencing in a later article.

It should ideally initiate as the opponent prepares his attack. Although technically a stop-hit can be launched after the opponent's attack has started, the goal should be to intercept his preparation rather than his technique.

A stop-hit must be made with conviction - it is a mistake the think of it as a defensive move. It is an offensive counter-attack!

As this is a simple direct attack - your hand or foot must start travelling towards the target immediately; otherwise your action will become a block/ evade & counter rather than a stop-hit.

In Fencing there are two distinct types of stop-hit. Both very valid & both used extensively within JKD. They are similar in execution and timing but are fundamentally different in their defensive structure. These are the simple stop-hit, and the stop-hit in opposition or "Time Hit".

The stop-hit
This is best done by attacking into an open line as the opponent prepares his attack e.g. as he steps into range to throw a kick or punch, but before his intended attack starts on it's way to the intended target.

The stop-hit in opposition
This stop-hit closes the line of the opponent's intended attack. The obvious benefit here is that should your stop-hit fail to have a decisive effect his attack should also fail because the target he intended to strike is closed by your action. You close the door with your stop-hit. In the examples above, if any of the stop-hits fail (It happens!) then the defender would still be in the line of fire.

Primary attack
In a primary attack, you initiate the attack using either pace, fraud or force. ‘Pace’ refers to the speed with which the attack is initiated; you’re literally beating your opponent to the punch through sheer speed, or creating an opening by using some sort of broken rhythm. Using the latter tactic, you break either your own rhythm or your opponent’s rhythm in the midst of their attack.

Using ‘fraud’ to attack simply means to deceive your opponent through some sort of indirect attack. For example, you make your opponent think you’re going to attack a particular line then you change lines midstream. Fraud can include faking, feinting, attack by drawing (intentionally leaving an opening) or even progressive-indirect attack, which falls under the five ways of attack. Lastly, we have force; the idea here is to crash through your opponent’s defence using some sort of trapping technique. You’re basically muscling them using strength to create an opening.

The problem with a primary attack is that we have to be very careful of the counter-attack, and as JKD people, what we’re primarily concerned about is the stop-hit and stop-kick. So the idea is to attack our opponent when he’s most vulnerable, and there are basically three points in time when we can accomplish this using careful timing:

The first timing is when your opponent is moving. When your opponent is moving, he’s not thinking about hitting, so that’s a great time to hit him.

The second timing is when your opponent is off balance. He might fire a side-kick, for example, and just as the foot misses you and is about to land on the ground, that’s when you hit him.

The third timing is when your opponent is talking. When he’s talking, his mind is engaged and he’s not hitting, so you use that moment in time to hit your opponent.

Secondary attack
A secondary attack is when your opponent initiates the attack and you attack into his attack on one of five cues:
1) on his display of intention;
2) on his preparation;
3) on his delivery;
4) on completion of his attack; or
5) on his recovery.

In Bruce Lee’s book Tao of Jeet Kune Do, Lee talks about secondary attacks and refers to the timings as ‘before’, ‘during’ and ‘after’ phases but doesn’t actually classify the timings. So while there are five in total, each will fall in either the before, during or after categories.

When we talk about attacking on intention, the idea is to hit your opponent as he’s thinking about hitting you. This is by far the highest level in Jeet Kune Do and epitomises what the words Jeet Kune Do actually mean. Hitting on intention is a very hard thing to do; it requires intuition, awareness and the ability to read body language. Moving down the ladder, we have attack on preparation, this simply means that you attack your opponent as he’s preparing to hit you. He might, for example, pull his arm back to punch you, or take a step forward — whatever the case, he’s preparing to hit you, so you strike first.

The next tactic is ‘attack on delivery’, meaning you attack just as your opponent does. This could be in the form of a single, direct attack or some sort of compound attack.

Then we have ‘attack on completion’, which means you attack as your opponent completes his initial attack. For example, if your opponent fires a straight jab, you catch your opponent’s strike on his extension and return a jab back.

Lastly, there’s ‘attack on recovery’, whereby you attack as your opponent tries to recover from his initial attack. This is the time when your opponent is either off balance or trying to renew his attack.

The problem with secondary attacks is that none of the above will work if you’re too close to your opponent; he’ll always have the advantage. The way to make it work is by controlling the distance, and one of the ways we do this is by understanding the fighting measure — that is, the safe distance between you and your opponent. If your opponent was to extend his arm and fingers, you’d want to be just outside of his reach where he can’t touch you. If he was to kick you, the kick would barely graze you. This is the ideal fighting measure because it keeps you at a safe distance but, more importantly, if your opponent wants to attack you, he has to step forward. This gives you the opportunity to intercept him with either a stop-hit or stop-kick.

Five ways of attack
The five ways of attack are strategies based on the combative principles found in Western fencing. Bruce Lee borrowed and incorporated many fencing principles into his Jeet Kune Do; for example, the stop-it, stop-kick (similar to the the chasse kick of French Savate, which Lee also studied) and ‘time hit’.

The very first way of the five ways is a single direct attack (SDA), whereby you attack your opponent with any single punch or kick that travels directly from point A to point B without deviation. A single direct attack takes the most efficient route with no attempt to disguise the intended line of attack and is often used as an entry or probe against an opponent. The single angular attack (SAA) is the sister technique to SDA, the difference being that it’s delivered at an angle, which is achieved through the JKD curve-step.

The second of the five ways is attack by combination (ABC), which can be any two or more hits in succession. Bruce Lee codified all his material as HH, meaning ‘hand-hand’, or FF, meaning ‘foot-foot’. For example, a three-beat combination could be codified as HHH, HHF, HFH or HFF; there are way too many possible combinations of punches and kicks to list here, but suffice to say that any attack by combination should be worked with some form of broken rhythm. There are generally four ways we break rhythm:
1) Change the tempo of our own attack
2) Include ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ hits
3) Interrupt our opponent’s rhythm by attacking into his attack
4) Break the opponent’s rhythm through footwork.

The third of the five ways is attack by drawing (ABD). This involves baiting your opponent to attack on a supposedly open line. You’re creating a false impression of momentary vulnerability, enticing your opponent into an opening. When your opponent commits to the attack, you seize the opportunity to close the line with an attack of your own. This falls into the ‘fraud’ category, as you are deceiving your foe into believing he has a free path to his target, thus he’s also not thinking about his own defence.

The fourth of the five ways is progressive indirect attack or PIA: ‘progressive’ meaning we take up distance, ‘indirect’ meaning we take up time, and to ‘attack’ we’re moving ahead of our opponent’s defence. A progressive indirect attack can be done using hand-hand, hand-foot, foot-hand or foot-foot. It can be done on the high lines, low lines, high then low or low then high. The idea is to attack on a particular line then fake on that line to attack on another line.

The fifth tactic is hand-immobilisation attack or HIA. Also referred to as trapping hands, this is the process by which we immobilise a limb in order to score with a hit. Often misunderstood, trapping plays an integral part of the Jeet Kune Do arsenal and requires tactile awareness and some sort of structure to make it work. Our objective as Jeet Kune Do practitioners is not to trap but to hit; however, if we hit some sort of obstruction or barrier while striking, then the idea is to remove the barrier via trapping and continue on our original objective, which is to hit.

The Upshot
Jeet Kune Do is a counter-offensive art based on high-level, integrated combat principles and applications. It was designed by its creator, Bruce Lee, for one reason only: to stop an opponent dead in their tracks.