Dan Inosanto Interview 1

Rick Tucci: “Because of all the controversy and problems in the JKD community that have arisen today, and you’re the leading authority on JKD… We’re going to ask some questions about the historical standpoint where the facts really are on Jeet Kune Do. Since you’re the only person that can really answer these questions. We will start with a little bit of the history of it. When and how did you meet Bruce Lee?   

Dan Inosanto: “I met Bruce Lee in 1964 at the First International Karate Championships in Long Beach California.”  

Rick Tucci: “Did you start training with him right away?”   

Dan Inosanto: “Immediately right after the Internationals I started to train under him.”   

Rick Tucci: “Ok, was it privately or…”   

Dan Inosanto: “Privately.”  

Rick Tucci: “Was it in Los Angeles?”   

Dan Inosanto: “It was in Los Angeles, he was doing some demonstrations at the Hsing-Li Theater and he needed a dummy and his top guy at that time was Taky Kimura so he needed a dummy or a person to takes falls in the demonstration so, I said I wanted to learn from him, he said he would teach me if I would be his dummy for a couple of weeks in Los Angeles while he did Cha-cha demonstrations and Gung Fu Demonstrations. So, I said yes, I would like to train and that’s when he started training me privately.   

Rick Tucci: “That was in 1964?”   

Dan Inosanto: “1964.”   

Rick Tucci: “What year did the Chinatown school open up in Los Angeles?”   

Dan Inosanto: “The Chinatown School in Los Angeles opened up in 1967, that’s February of 1967.   

Rick Tucci: “So did you have an instructors rank under Bruce Lee at that time when it opened or…?”   

Dan Inosanto: “At the time of the school’s opening in February of 1967 he gave me instructor’s ranking.”   

Rick Tucci: “In which arts?”   

Dan Inosanto: “All… Jun Fan Gung Fu, the Dao of Chinese Gung Fu and Jeet Kune Do 3 separate Arts.”   

Rick Tucci: “So there was actually 3 separate arts?”   

Dan Inosanto: “Three different arts in which he gave rank in, yes.”   

Rick Tucci: “Ok, who taught most of the classes at the Chinatown School, the majority of hours?”   

Dan Inosanto: “I taught the majority of classes, maybe 90% of the classes in Chinatown for Sifu Bruce. That’s because he liked to train, and he felt that if he taught he wouldn’t have time for his own training so it was told to me in the beginning: I would do the majority of the teaching, to keep me up to date he would teach me privately so that I would keep up to date on the latest things.”   

Rick Tucci: “Ok, so the people training under you at the Chinatown School would have been more trained by you than actually Bruce Lee.”   

Dan Inosanto: “Yes, they were.”   

Rick Tucci: “They were more your students than they were Bruce Lee’s students but then actually you were training them more   

Dan Inosanto: “Yes, He was what you would refer to as in Chinese Martial Arts as the Sigung and I was the Sifu, but we referred to him as Sifu Bruce.”   

Rick Tucci: “Ok, when Bruce Lee taught you privately was the curriculum different than was taught at the school?”   

Dan Inosanto: “Yes, it was, there was certain things he wanted taught at the school in Los Angeles Chinatown and there were certain things that he taught to me privately; things that I think he was maybe experimenting on and things that he wanted to work on himself, and I just got the benefit of him wanting to work on the latest things and I was always used as a sparring partner and things of that sort.”   

Rick Tucci: “Ok, so he taught things further in private lessons than…”   

Dan Inosanto: “Right it was more expanded in our private sessions.”   

Rick Tucci: “Was it partly because he was secretive at that time?”   

Dan Inosanto: “I think time period in the 60’s everybody was secretive, Chinese Kung Fu had not come out in the open and a lot of time in Chinese Kung Fu they never taught non-Chinese, that would include other orientals at that time. And so he was very very secretive and everybody thought that way and its not that’s not true here in the 1990s, but at that time, in the 60s it was very very secretive coming out of  that type of environment. So he was more selective and more secretive during that time period.”   

Rick Tucci: “So with his students he could even be secretive?”   

Dan Inosanto: “Right, you had to go through the different types of levels before you got to the what I might even call the inner circle.”   

Rick Tucci: “Did he change the curriculum at the school often?”   

Dan Inosanto: “Constantly changing, he changed the curriculum probably every two, maybe every three and sometimes every month. Because he was constantly evolving training methods just like in Track and Field the training methods have changed from the 30’s to the 40’s through the 50’s on up to here in the 90’s… se here he was constantly changing, experimenting in the ways people would train, training progression, training procedure, training equipment, experimentation all the time.”   

Rick Tucci: “At that time were there sets, or forms or patterns in JKD?”   

Dan Inosanto: “Yeah, JKD is not supposed to be a style, but at that time period there were sets. And then he said “No, that’s not where it’s at” but there were sets on the dummy, they were supposed to be freelance but there were sets, we had a kicking set which people in the literature says there is no kicking sets and there are no forms, which is true but he referred to call them as exercises but they were set.”   

Rick Tucci: “They were actual sets?”   

Dan Inosanto: “Yes, they were sets, he chose like the kicking set but then we were supposed to liberate that then shadowbox that but there were definitely sets.”   

Rick Tucci: “Would it be fair to say that someone who studied under you or Bruce Lee in 1967 or 1968 would have a different perspective than someone who studied in say 1969 or 71 I mean on the JKD they would have a different outlook on what it REALLY is?”   

Dan Inosanto: “Yeah, its constantly evolving, like I’ve said I can only relate it to American Football, its constantly changing, in the 40s, 50s and 60s, every decade in any sport or any art its going to change.”   

Rick Tucci: “So maybe for somebody who studied for a year or two would have a completely different outlook according to what time period like pieces of the process.”   

Dan Inosanto: “Right, like in ’67 the training was more like Wing Chun, but toward the latter part we always privately did it more like Kickboxing which was not popular, everybody was doing point Karate, and so the closest I can say is it is sort of like Savate and a little bit like Muay Thai, but not quite as heavy on the contact, but I think as time developed, he incorporated that into the system of training, so we did a lot of Kickboxing, so some people who came into a different time period they think it is more like Wing Chun, others who came in at another time period think its more like just Kickboxing, or if he had been working on a few different grappling techniques they would think that its Trapping to Grappling. But actually its because the period in which they entered the training and where his emphasis, were his interest laid at that point.    

Rick Tucci: “I guess its also that person’s personal interest as well.”   

Dan Inosanto: “Yes, he tended to teach another guy who had a boxing background he seems to have started from there, if he had a wrestling, or Judo background he tended to change the format in which he would approach his teaching,    

Rick Tucci: “Were Muay Thai, Kail and Pentjak Silat arts where he investigated or researched?   

Dan Inosanto: “Yes, he did investigate it, we’re not saying he took the entire system, he would like certain things, he said: “Its good to draw the essence out of things like: Muay Thaiboxing and its good to absorb the essence of arts like Pentjak Silat.” Its in his notes but to people who were not really into the research of it who are not, which would not know that he was heavily into that; which was researching different arts, and taking the essence of it there.”   

Rick Tucci: “And you were training Kali at the same time you were training with Bruce Lee, right?”   

Dan Inosanto: “I was training in Kali and Escrima more so than I was in Kali. But I wasn’t at a really high level of Kali to fully appreciate it at that time (almost simultaneously). But I did share Escrima, and he told me what he liked about it and he DEFINITELY told me what he did not like about it. And he would say that definitely this would be good for movies and that this would not be good for combat.”   

Rick Tucci: “So, at that time did he mind that you were exploring other arts or did he encourage you?”   

Dan Inosanto: “No, he encouraged me, the thing I always remember is he said “You know you should always research your own culture art but don’t be bound by your own cultural art and thinking that’s the way to go just because you’re Filipino.