Wu-Wei Gung Fu

Seattle, in the early 1960's; First Students; Formation of the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute

After Bruce Lee (Lee Jun Fan) left Hong Kong and came to the United States, he eventually took some students who desired to learn Gung Fu. His very first student was Jesse Glover, who has related those early times and experiences with Bruce in an informative and interesting way in his book, Bruce Lee Between Wing Chun and Jeet Kune Do. Jesse Glover was regarded among the earliest students both as Bruce’s personal friend and foremost student. Every so often he would come down to the old basement in Seattle’s Chinatown and work out with the regular class.

Taky Kimura became Bruce’s Assistant Instructor in the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute. He held the highest ranking within the school, of course, and was Bruce’s closest friend and associate. I was granted membership in Bruce’s school before it was established in the Chinatown basement location or called the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute. In those early days we simply worked out in a student’s yard, or on playgrounds or school yards, etc. (See published letter in “Black Belt” magazine, February, 1974: “A Bruce Lee Student Remembers the Early Days”) After the obtaining of the Chinatown basement location of the school, I was privileged to be a contemporary student with Linda Emery who was later to become Linda Lee.

One day Bruce came to my apartment ...at the Holly Park Housing Project in Seattle while we were trying to find a permanent place to work out. He expressed some pleasure at seeing some oriental decorations I had in my living room. He was pleased to see that I liked things like that, Then we walked over to the Boys’ Club next door where I was teaching the fundamentals of Judo to some boys each week. I had told Bruce that he could use the stage area for the Gung Fu class. But, after looking it over, Bruce decided against it because he thought there would be too many interruptions and curious boys around to hold a class there.

It was some time after this that Bruce obtained the old basement in Chinatown. It was located between Jackson and Dearborn Streets, and that is where we worked out and where the school remained for the longest period of its existence. It seems strange to reminisce now that down those dingy steps in that old basement was a young man teaching Gung Fu to about twenty or thirty students who was destined to become the most highly regarded and widely known martial artist of all time. For a short time thereafter the school was relocated in the Seattle University District. And just prior to this move Bruce took a trip back to Hong Kong to visit his parents, and, of course, his old school and teacher, Yip Man, and those he worked out with. Before his departure he took us out to an eight-course dinner in an upstairs room of the Hong Kong restaurant in Seattle’s Chinatown. There was a fish served head and all, on a big platter, some cloudy water, and plenty of rice. Being a bit squeamish I stuck mainly to the rice, and nibbled at the other things. I was kind of glad I did, when glancing at my neighbor’s plate I saw something that looked familiar. It was the cooked, complete head of a small bird, with beak, eye holes, and all on the edge of his food! And it was only later that I discovered that the soup I’d eaten was, true to its name, made from a real bird’s nest! That is, the “mortar” of the bird’s nest is made by its saliva and this saliva is used to make “Bird’s Nest Soup.”

Before the school moved to the University District, Bruce took a trip to California where he met several outstanding martial artists. Among them was James Lee, who was later to become his ardent student, and one of Bruce’s best friends. From notes he carefully took, James Lee eventually produced the book, Wing Chun Kung Fu. This is one of the clearest and best books available on Wing Chun - bar none. In fact, it is so plain and direct in its teaching that those who are looking for some elaborate “secret” to success in training will pass right over that which would really help them. James Lee was also the teacher of Gary Dill, a former karate instructor. Gary told me one day that he had learned more in one year with James Lee than he had learned in eight years of karate! When Bruce returned from his California trip, he was very excited and enthusiastic — especially about James Lee. Referring to their workouts and the concepts they had discussed together, Bruce looked really happy. He smiled and said, “He’s convinced!” Shortly after this Bruce’s first book was produced by James Lee’s own Oriental Book Sales. That James Lee was indeed convinced is evident from his comment in the Foreword to that book: “Oscar Wilde once said ‘Imitation is the most sincere compliment.’ If so, I have paid Mr. Bruce Lee a sincere compliment by changing all my Gung Fu techniques to his methods....”

Bruce inscribed and autographed my copy of this book for me at the old Chinatown basement school. I still have this treasured copy, now considered a rare collector’s item. In it he wrote: “To my student, Joe. ‘Be soft, yet not yielding; firm yet not hard.’ Best Wishes, Bruce Lee.”

The only uniform we wore in those days was a very short black vest, secured in front with a gold cord and a Chinese knot. Bruce had a Chinese lady make some yin/"; yang emblems for us too. Because the fabric tended to fray, I had my emblem done commercially so it would wear better. This was not the later Jeet Kune Do emblem, but just the yin/yang itself. Later Bruce added encircling arrows on the emblem and on our membership cards. My membership card was #0029 and indicated “Permanent Member.” I still have all of these things. I can remember seeing some students just carelessly leaving their vests hanging around at that old basement school and I wondered why they didn’t value them more than that. The complete uniforms some students had were never worn in class, They were only used for demonstrations and were considered just the same as owning a tuxedo.

The school later moved to the Seattle “U” District where the quarters were large and expensive Bruce had living quarters in the back of this school. One day he invited me to come back and see his beautiful teakwood furniture which had arrived from Hong Kong. It had a very high gloss so the finish looked like glass. I think he was very proud of this furniture, and it really was pretty.

One day Bruce paraded around for us in a coat he said his father had given him. It was a long coat made of fluffy white fur, and Bruce looked somewhat like a polar bear in it. It was a beautiful coat, and Bruce looked like he was really dressed for some cold weather with it on.

Some visitors came in one day, and after talking with them, Bruce demonstrated his kick for them. Using me for the target, his kick whipped out very fast, and I could hear it “pop” right by my eye. I didn’t flinch though because I knew he was very accurate. When he saw that I didn’t flinch, his kick came even closer, and each time there was a popping sound right by my eye. Another time he demonstrated his one-inch punch. He placed a chair a few feet behind a young man who was visiting the school, then with just a slight movement he struck the man on the chest. The effect was startling! It was like a big hand had slapped the man on his chest very hard, and he shot backward into the chair, and the chair skidded on the floor! Evidently the man was duly impressed because he joined Bruce’s school.

One of my friends and I worked out quite a lot together, and he had become extremely fast with a particular punch. He had long arms and he would often fire that punch at me so fast that he would hit me on the nose with his palm. He didn’t hit hard, but it got so that I almost got annoyed because most of the time I couldn’t block his punch.

One day this student decided to try this punch on Bruce. This, by the way, was unethical because we were not allowed to hit each other in class. We were always told to “come two inches from our partner and stop.” Thus, there was a surprise for Bruce when this student actually hit him during a sparring demonstration in class. Compounding this insult was the fact that there was a karate man watching who had previously challenged Bruce to a fight, Bruce had beaten this man in about 11 seconds in this serious fight. I happened to be absent from class when my friend hit Bruce but he walked up to me later and told me what had happened. He was laughing about it and said he had hit Bruce twice! I asked him what Bruce had done, and he said Bruce just started using “sticking hands” (Chi-Sau) on him. “Then,” he said, “I couldn’t do anything — he just ‘ate me up!’” He said the first time he hit Bruce that Bruce responded by sweeping his feet out from under him, and the second time Bruce kicked him in the groin. After class, he said, Bruce called him over, and he said, “I knew what was coming.” Bruce told him, “The next time you hit me in front of that karate guy. I’m really going to work you over.” I asked another student who had seen it if it looked like Bruce had hurt my friend. “Yeah!” he exclaimed, “it hurt me!” Bruce was very good at getting his point across like that.

On my very first day in his class, some time before this incident, I noticed two students practicing an arm-banging exercise called “sam-sing” which was designed to toughen the forearms. The students slammed their forearms together over and over in this exercise. I decided to try it, and I practiced with an older student. I really wasn’t trying to be a tough guy, but Bruce didn’t know that since it was my first day there, and to top it off, the other student quit since my arms just happened to be tougher than his were. So Bruce walked up to me and said, “Let’s see how long you can go with me!” So we started banging our forearms together. Then we started going harder and harder. All at once Bruce’s fist flew up and he struck me in the right temple so hard that the following week every time I would eat I could feel the bruise hurting me. “You didn’t get your hand up in time,” Bruce said pleasantly. Still I did not get the hint that he was letting me know that I better stop. So I kept hitting his forearms, and then I noticed he really started pouring it on! So I thought, “I better stop since he’s the teacher,” and I said, “That’s enough.” Bruce looked at me, and said very bluntly, “Don’t be a hero. If it hurts, stop, or I’ll break your arm!”

After class he drove back to Seattle with me and told me he admired me for practicing at my age. (I was thirty-two when I began training under Bruce.) I asked him that very first day on the way back to Seattle, “How long does it take to learn gung fu?” The memory of his reply jolted me when I viewed the reports and pictures of his funeral a few years later. Bruce said, “You never quit learning until they close the lid on your coffin.” How little did we realize his own words were to come true so soon for him.

When we arrived in Seattle, Bruce took me to the Tai Tung Cafe in Seattle’s Chinatown, bought my dinner, and took my little spiral notebook and drew some gung fu stances in it for me. While we were discussing gung fu, he reached across the table to demonstrate his arm-wrestling. I grabbed his hand, and without our arms touching the table we started. But it was no contest! I felt like I would feel if I’d grabbed hold of a machine that was turning! Bruce turned my arm so fast I felt completely helpless to stop him. In fact, I felt like my arm would break if I tried to stop his force.

I recall once when my friend, Lee Norman, told Bruce that he had met a boxer who boasted that he could probably beat Bruce or knock him out. Bruce just looked at Norman and asked “Do you think he can do it?” Norman said, “No, I don’t. I just thought I’d have him come down so you could show him a few things.” But Bruce said, “You’re right, he can’t. What you think is all that matters. If he wants to kill himself, let him go ahead, but don’t invite him to do it!”

Bruce always stressed that it was the person who talked who didn’t really know, and the person who did not talk who did know because he did not have to go around proving it to himself and everyone else. When Bruce had his fight with the karate man, he told us about it. We were in his class. But when people would come up to him on the University of Washington campus and say, “Hey, did you know that ________ has a black eye?” Bruce would just say, “Oh, really?” But he wouldn’t tell them he had given it to him. The karate man thanked Bruce for that and joined his class, However, he did not last long because Bruce said that he just wanted to learn some things to teach his own karate students. This same man had bragged to me how he had challenged Bruce to fight him, and Bruce had turned him down. And this bragging took place before I even knew Bruce. Nor did I know the karate man. So I didn’t know what he was bragging to me for. Later he made the mistake of confronting Bruce on the University of Washington campus. Bruce said the man walked right up to him and stared right in his face. Then he reached out, shoved Bruce aside and walked past him. Bruce said to us, “As long as he talked, I just let him talk. But when he put his hands on me, then I accepted his challenge.” He fought the man at the Seattle YMCA in a handball court. According to Ed Hart, who kept time on his watch, Bruce beat him in 11 seconds.

Martial arts schools and teachers were quite rare in those days, so one day when I happened to go into a Health Studio in the White Center area of Seattle I was quite surprised to see a karate class being advertised. When I asked about it, the owner of the Health Studio apparently was determined to impress me. He told me the teacher was a black belt and very capable — in fact, he could probably even handle Bruce Lee! I had never seen an actual karate class before, and I really wanted to watch it. I called Taky Kimura and he contacted Bruce, and that night the three of us went to watch.

When we first walked in, Bruce noted the writing on the backs of the uniforms and commented, “This is very good, it’s what I started out in.” We just sat down and watched. Pretty soon the teacher, seeing Bruce was oriental, asked him if he taught. Bruce replied, “Well, if you hadn’t spoken to me, I wouldn’t have said anything, but since you asked...” He then began discussing concepts of martial arts with the young man. Bruce told the teacher to press down on his hand, and he did so, and Bruce said, “Press harder.” I then saw Bruce’s hand tremble slightly under the pressure, then up it came, and he touched the teacher on the chest just like he had told him he would.

We went out that night with the young teacher after his class dismissed and stopped for coffee and soft drinks for Bruce (since he did not drink coffee). While we continued discussing martial arts techniques, Bruce said to him, “I will show you that I will poke your eye, and you cannot stop me.” (Of course he meant this as a demonstration, not a threat to the young man.) So, when we went outside, Bruce had him stand with his hand all prepared to block, and Bruce stood back with his own hand clear down by his thigh. Suddenly his hand shot toward the man’s eyes and back out again. The man’s hand barely moved to block before it was all over. Then Bruce did it two more times, but by the time the man’s hand could even hardly move, Bruce had completed his own eye strike. Later I dropped by the Health Studio and the same man who had tried so hard to impress me before told me, “The karate teacher came back and said, ‘I’m nothing compared to that guy! He’s like a 6th degree karate man!’”

After Bruce took his trip to California and met James Lee and other martial artists such as Ed Parker and Wally Jay, he began to have an interest in going to California. Thus the school’s existence in the “U” District of Seattle was short-lived, and Bruce began traveling more. By this time though, I would catch the ferry back to Seattle and go to work out in the old Chinatown basement as the school had again located there. This was the original and same basement location of Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute. All there was to indicate that it was a gung fu school was an old building with dingy steps leading down to the basement. If one looked closely, he could see a yin/yang emblem as he started down the steps. But there was nothing at street level to suggest that there was a gung fu class going on there.

Taky Kimura was in charge as Bruce’s assistant, of course, as he had been for a long time, in fact since the beginning of the formal Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute. Bruce’s presence at the school was less frequent by this time, but it was good to see him when he could be there. This was the beginning of the end for Seattle, as far as Bruce’s personal teaching was concerned. His new life was beginning to open up for him in California.

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