I have always been drawn to both Kenpo and Jeet Kune Do , The idea of overwhelming an attacker with multiple strikes in very fast succession made sense to me from the start. It also makes sense that i would like both because the two styles have a lot of the same ideas and concepts. But why are they so similar? Well they were both evolutions of two men who's thoughts and understandings of martial arts were being influenced by some of the same people. They were both wanting to improve upon what they considered an out of date style of defense. They hung around each other, shared information with each other even stayed in the same home together at one point. So to think that maybe they experimented and bounced ideas off of each other and learned from each other isn't that far fetched.
Let's break down what we do know about the two men.
Both Ed and Bruce had a tremendous amount of information and techniques to share with each other as both have absorbed as much as they could from as many people in different styles of martial arts.
Let's break down what we do know about the two men.
Both Ed and Bruce had a tremendous amount of information and techniques to share with each other as both have absorbed as much as they could from as many people in different styles of martial arts.
The beginning of the two men's journey into martial arts
Parker started his martial arts training in Judo at the age of twelve, and received his Shodan in that style in 1949 at the age of eighteen. He also trained in western boxing before he started training in kenpo and later received black belts in jiu-jitsu and Karate.
After parker received his brown belt in Kenpo he moved back to California and later received his black belt in Kenpo. Parker started hanging around some of the best martial artist at that time, sharing information and learning from each other. Ed was associating with Ark Wong, Haumea Lefiti, Jimmy H. Woo (who developed many forms still used in Kenpo), and Lau Bun. These martial artists were at the top of their game in styles like Five Family Fist Kung Fu, Splashing-Hands, San Soo, T'ai Chi, and Hung Gar. While hanging around these people Parker became very interested in the chinese styles which influenced the creation of Chinese Kenpo. Ed later was working on a style that he called American Kenpo, right about the time that Bruce Lee was working on Jeet Kune Do.
Bruce Lee started off in wing chun when he was 16 years old and later trained with his Brother Edward, who was the coach of the boxing program at the St. Francis Xavier school in Hong Kong. In 1958 Bruce ended up winning the Hong Kong schools boxing tournament, knocking out the previous champion. Bruce also trained with his other brother Peter who was a champion fencer at La Salle College in Hong Kong.
Once in the United States Bruce met James Yimm Lee who was a Chinese martial artist and ended up introducing Bruce to Ed Parker. Bruce also trained a little with Taekwondo master Jhoon Goo Rhee (More along the lines of trading information and teaching each other moves and technique) Bruce took all of his knowledge and created Jeet Kune Do Right about the same time that American Kenpo was being created.
Two greats meet
In 1963 or 1964 Parker and Bruce met and became instant friends. Parker helped Bruce gain national attention by introducing him to the martial art world at the Long Beach International Karate Championships. where Bruce Lee discussed his concepts and Jun Fan Gung Fu (Bruce Lees Kung Fu) Bruce demonstrated his two finger push up and 1 inch punch. This was also where Bruce Lee was spotted by Hollywood wich led to his kato role and helped him become a martial art super star. Mr Parker was the one that also suggested that Bruce talk to and learn from all the main people from different styles that Parker was communicating with at the time and Introduced Bruce to the heads of the many martial arts styles.
Parker started his martial arts training in Judo at the age of twelve, and received his Shodan in that style in 1949 at the age of eighteen. He also trained in western boxing before he started training in kenpo and later received black belts in jiu-jitsu and Karate.
After parker received his brown belt in Kenpo he moved back to California and later received his black belt in Kenpo. Parker started hanging around some of the best martial artist at that time, sharing information and learning from each other. Ed was associating with Ark Wong, Haumea Lefiti, Jimmy H. Woo (who developed many forms still used in Kenpo), and Lau Bun. These martial artists were at the top of their game in styles like Five Family Fist Kung Fu, Splashing-Hands, San Soo, T'ai Chi, and Hung Gar. While hanging around these people Parker became very interested in the chinese styles which influenced the creation of Chinese Kenpo. Ed later was working on a style that he called American Kenpo, right about the time that Bruce Lee was working on Jeet Kune Do.
Bruce Lee started off in wing chun when he was 16 years old and later trained with his Brother Edward, who was the coach of the boxing program at the St. Francis Xavier school in Hong Kong. In 1958 Bruce ended up winning the Hong Kong schools boxing tournament, knocking out the previous champion. Bruce also trained with his other brother Peter who was a champion fencer at La Salle College in Hong Kong.
Once in the United States Bruce met James Yimm Lee who was a Chinese martial artist and ended up introducing Bruce to Ed Parker. Bruce also trained a little with Taekwondo master Jhoon Goo Rhee (More along the lines of trading information and teaching each other moves and technique) Bruce took all of his knowledge and created Jeet Kune Do Right about the same time that American Kenpo was being created.
Two greats meet
In 1963 or 1964 Parker and Bruce met and became instant friends. Parker helped Bruce gain national attention by introducing him to the martial art world at the Long Beach International Karate Championships. where Bruce Lee discussed his concepts and Jun Fan Gung Fu (Bruce Lees Kung Fu) Bruce demonstrated his two finger push up and 1 inch punch. This was also where Bruce Lee was spotted by Hollywood wich led to his kato role and helped him become a martial art super star. Mr Parker was the one that also suggested that Bruce talk to and learn from all the main people from different styles that Parker was communicating with at the time and Introduced Bruce to the heads of the many martial arts styles.
Both are evolving in their understanding of martial arts
As an example of Bruce changing his beliefs, there was a time that Bruce was very confident in a knuckle punch that in Kenpo is referred to as an eagle beak with the middle knuckle protruding out above the others and squeezed tight. Bruce was a huge fan of this punch until he used it one day and really hurt his finger and never used the punch again.He was completely against it after that. Bruce was now completely against classical forms and replaced them with forms that were set, yet they were not set. It was more of a self-expression type of movements
Ed parker was changing his own concepts at the same time. Parker was moving more towards the circular Chinese movements which led to chinese Kenpo, before eventually returning to more of a combination of the two movements. He also wanted to get away from the forms that were obvious Hung Gar style.
Concept of form without form
Almost everyone involved in martial arts knows of Bruce Lees famous beliefs about being against forms. What most don't understand is that he wasn't completely utterly against forms. He himself practiced forms from many styles.
Bruce Lee realized that he could not teach a no form style directly to beginners in the martial arts. A person had to first master the form of some style, and only from that point could the student begin to experiment with abandoning the form.
Ed Parker came to the same beliefs with Ed Parker Kenpo, Which is what Parker truly wanted to teach and move into. This style of form without form could not be taught straight from the beginning to a new student and he understood that most of his students would straight out reject the concept of moving onto this new style of kenpo. Parker looked at American Kenpo as a stepping stone to achieve what he called Ed parker Kenpo.
If you look at parkers plan for Kenpo involving the concept of the web of knowledge. This web concept is very much the same idea as displayed in Jeet Kune Do with free flowing moves and attacks based on the situation at the time, a form without form.
So are they sister arts?
What we do know is these two styles were created at around the same time by two people that have a very similar background as far as they both trained in multiple styles. We know they were talking to each other and learning from the same set of other martial artist to pull knowledge from.
We know that they talked many times about what they was thinking ,learning and experimenting with. They even stayed in the same home for a while. I feel that it would be very stand offish and stubborn to straight out deny that these two styles and men drew off of and influenced each other at at a point where they were both creating what they believed to be the best style that they could bring to the table at the time. Finally we know that at within the same time frame, both men came to the same belief that to be the best one had to practice a form without form.
What are your thoughts?
As an example of Bruce changing his beliefs, there was a time that Bruce was very confident in a knuckle punch that in Kenpo is referred to as an eagle beak with the middle knuckle protruding out above the others and squeezed tight. Bruce was a huge fan of this punch until he used it one day and really hurt his finger and never used the punch again.He was completely against it after that. Bruce was now completely against classical forms and replaced them with forms that were set, yet they were not set. It was more of a self-expression type of movements
Ed parker was changing his own concepts at the same time. Parker was moving more towards the circular Chinese movements which led to chinese Kenpo, before eventually returning to more of a combination of the two movements. He also wanted to get away from the forms that were obvious Hung Gar style.
Concept of form without form
Almost everyone involved in martial arts knows of Bruce Lees famous beliefs about being against forms. What most don't understand is that he wasn't completely utterly against forms. He himself practiced forms from many styles.
Bruce Lee realized that he could not teach a no form style directly to beginners in the martial arts. A person had to first master the form of some style, and only from that point could the student begin to experiment with abandoning the form.
Ed Parker came to the same beliefs with Ed Parker Kenpo, Which is what Parker truly wanted to teach and move into. This style of form without form could not be taught straight from the beginning to a new student and he understood that most of his students would straight out reject the concept of moving onto this new style of kenpo. Parker looked at American Kenpo as a stepping stone to achieve what he called Ed parker Kenpo.
If you look at parkers plan for Kenpo involving the concept of the web of knowledge. This web concept is very much the same idea as displayed in Jeet Kune Do with free flowing moves and attacks based on the situation at the time, a form without form.
So are they sister arts?
What we do know is these two styles were created at around the same time by two people that have a very similar background as far as they both trained in multiple styles. We know they were talking to each other and learning from the same set of other martial artist to pull knowledge from.
We know that they talked many times about what they was thinking ,learning and experimenting with. They even stayed in the same home for a while. I feel that it would be very stand offish and stubborn to straight out deny that these two styles and men drew off of and influenced each other at at a point where they were both creating what they believed to be the best style that they could bring to the table at the time. Finally we know that at within the same time frame, both men came to the same belief that to be the best one had to practice a form without form.
What are your thoughts?