If Bruce Lee never existed, there was no JKD in the early 70's, what art would have...

been a close equivalent. I'm thinking Ed Parkers Kempo.

Adventure is just a romantic name for trouble. It sounds swell when you write about it, but it's hell when you meet it face to face in a dark and lonely place.
Louis L'Amour

I'd like to think I'd still have found my way to eskrima. But without Bruce Lee, I might never have heard of Dan Inosanto, and consequently, eskrima.

But perhaps I would have.


Stuart B.

Well, the first systems that come to mind are shooto and krav maga, but it's difficult to speculate because it's difficult to estimate how much Bruce Lee's JKD influenced these other arts.

Regardless, I think shooto is a pretty close match to what is considered "ideal" in JKD.

I don't know a thing about Parker's kempo, so I wouldn't be able to say either way.

Have fun with this thread!

Never confuse sparring with fighting. One is an exchange of skill; the other an exchange of blood.

I think Krav Maga was developed during World War II, yeah? So, presumably, it would still be about regardless of Bruce Lee. Whether it would've gained the popularity it has now is a different question. With, quite possibly, a different answer.


Stuart B.

I should have added let's disregard Lees movie fame as a factor in spreading the art.

Adventure is just a romantic name for trouble. It sounds swell when you write about it, but it's hell when you meet it face to face in a dark and lonely place.
Louis L'Amour

I think you are right rogue. Parker's American Kenpo would have probably developed along similar lines.

And with the number of people whom Parker trained who were cross training with other instructors, someone else would have eventually come along with some of the same ideas as Lee.

I am personally of the opinion that should Bruce Lee have come along now (2001) instead of when he did (the late sixties). He would be just another kung fu guy; nothing special.

Judo was big back then, it had just become a Olympic sport in the 60's, the spy movies used Judo as the art to know if you were a spy. If Bruce had not come by Judo would still be strong, Chuck was fighting at that time, he may have been the big drive if Bruce didnt appear.

Well for one thing, not Ed Parker's Kempo. I really don't think there would have been an equivalent...and it wouldn't have mattered either. People would have gone on doing all sorts of stuff like judo, karate, TKD (just as they did anyway) Muay thai would've come along and shock the world (just as it did anyway) and eventually modern MMA would rise out of Brazil, Japan, Europe and America and largely alter people's conception of martial arts (just as it did anyway)...and all without much difference whether or not JKD was there. Bruce Lee's work helped to give certain people a new idea and outlook on martial arts, but as far as the world at large is concerned, he really did more to give people an Asian film hero and popularize MA movies than he did to largely effect the course of martial arts development. Not to say JKD is insignificant, I love Bruce's MA ideas and they've affected me a lot, but when it gets down to it JKD is still to this day a small minority among the much more widely practiced mainstream martial arts. Especially with the rise of MMA, nowadays there are plenty of different methods and schools that have come to train in a frame of mind and philosophy similar to JKD. I guess what I'm saying is that the MA world as it is today would be the same with or without JKD.

"I guess what I'm saying is that the MA world as it is today would be the same with or without JKD." --Dragonzrage

I understand your premise, I think, but don't agree with your conclusion. The MA world of today, like it or not, has been influenced by Lee and his philosophy behind JKD. Have some styles been influenced less than others? Sure. But the overall numbers of people interested in MA is directly influenced by Lee and his popularization of the arts through films and books.

Having said that, I think if Lee had never been around someone else would have stepped up to promote MA in the West. Perhaps with much of the same result as we see today. Dunno.

My two yen.

K. Mark Hoover

The one thing Burce Lee did that nobody else did is he gave martial arts STYLE, as in fashion, coolness, etc. Like Jackie O, who is remembered for the way she stylized her role in american politics, Bruce makes you want to be a kung fu masta of disasta.

C'mon guys, what about Ninjutsu? After all, the eighties saw a sudden leap forward in Martial Arts intrest, largely due to Ninja movies. How many of you still see Ninja guys now? I don't study JKD, but obviously there is more to it than "movie mystique", otherwise it wouldn't be around either.

Unless... maybe all the Ninja just went back into hiding!?! :eek:

"The essence of life is struggle and it's goal is domination. There are higher goals and deeper meanings, but they exist only within the mind of man. The reality of life is war."

- The Way and the Power

Good point Mantis, while I don't think Lee was an original thinker, after all people have been mixing and changing MA styles for centuries, he did a very good job of promoting the JKD philosophy, had a very good core group to play with the ideas and then sadly died before he finished. I think JKD would have died out if not for the example of Dan Inosanto who is such a great MA. I also believe that with Lee dying that JKD was able to become bigger than just him. Also the fuzzy aspect of what JKD is helps keep the name alive though it also let's in some bogus intructors.


Rogue, you're an @ss!! Watchman

Adventure is just a romantic name for trouble. It sounds swell when you write about it, but it's hell when you meet it face to face in a dark and lonely place.
Louis L'Amour

BTW, did I mention that Rogue was an @ss? Watchman