Today we’d like to introduce you to Abe Santos.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Abe. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am a senior instructor at the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute of Seattle. I have been a student and friend of Sifu Taky Kimura for over 33 years.
In 1983, I was 14 years old and was privileged to see Sifu Taky Kimura at a martial arts exhibition held at Seattle Pacific University. Sifu Taky Kimura was Bruce Lee’s best friend and highest ranked student in Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do. I was already taking Shorin Ryu Karate for 5 years so already had an interest in martial arts and watched Bruce Lee movies and had Bruce Lee posters on my wall. When I was 10 years old, I had bought and read Bruce Lee’s book, The Tao of Jeet Kune Do. At 10 years old, this was the first book I ever bought while with my parents shopping at a Japanese grocery store called Uwajimaya. Looking back at it, I remember being reluctant to spend $20 of my own hard-earned allowance money to buy the book. But I went ahead and bought the book for and it was one of the best things I ever did. I still have this book today with my hand-written notes. I was only 10 years old so I probably did not know too much of the terminology at the time. although that did not stop me from reading it.
After seeing and hearing Sifu Taky speak I wanted to learn as much as I can about Si Jo Bruce Lee and eventually had the opportunity to meet Sifu Taky Kimura. That opportunity came after I wrote him a letter when I was 14 years old explaining my desire to train at the Jun Fun Gung Fu Institute. I met Sifu Taky at his grocery store where he interviewed me as he does everyone wanting to attend the school.
The rest is history. Several years ago, Sifu Taky reminded me of this letter when one day someone cleaning out his garage found that same letter and showed it to him.
It has been an honor to know Sifu Taky and learning the philosophical aspects of Jun Fan Gung Fu Jeet Kune Do as well as its art. You cannot have a better teacher and mentor then Sifu Taky Kimura to teach the full totality of Bruce Lee’s art and philosophy of Jun Fan Gung Fu Jeet Kune Do. I continue to teach at the Institute and assist in perpetuating and promoting the legacy Si Jo Bruce started and continued by Sifu Taky for the past 57 years. In Sifu Taky’s own words, we are not here to teach you how to fight but to help you express and find yourself and be the best person you can possibly be.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I believe there are always challenges in what you do but you must persevere. learn and grow from your experiences. As a school we have had challenges with things like low attendance but as long as you have a core of dedicated students to carry the school then you will be fine: students who thought they were bigger than the whole and some of these students were dealt with accordingly and the ones that we could not were asked to leave: students who lost the path with challenges and adversity outside of the school but overcame them because of their love and passion for Jun Fan JKD: and moving to different venues but having dedicated students help with this transition was key.
As individuals, challenges are part of life as a stepping stone to learn from and make you stronger. You must have the confidence and mental fortitude to deal with them and I firmly believe that Jun Fan JKD makes our students stronger not physically but mentally.
Please tell us about Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute of Seattle.
The Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute was the first school that was started by Si Jo Bruce Lee. Si Jo Bruce Lee had certified only 3 students to teach Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do. There were only 3 schools, the first one in Seattle, second in Oakland, and the third was in Los Angeles. The Jun Fan Gung Fu is the only one that still has the original name as Sifu Taky Kimura has continued to keep the school open after Si Jo Bruce passed in 1973. But what Sifu Taky did was unique as he moved the school to the basement of his grocery store and taught for free collecting no dues or gained any monies due to his association with Si Jo Bruce. He continued to teach as a private club as we never advertised. One of the things we use to do after class was clean the parking lots so when people asked what we were doing we always said its “work release”. We were very private and did not open the school commercially although we had a waiting list that was as long as 2 years at one time. Sifu Taky only taught because of his friendship to Bruce Lee. To this day we run and teach the school similar to what it was when Si Jo Bruce Lee was there. So we kept it as pure as we can and because we did not do it for profit Sifu Taky kept it as original to what Bruce Lee taught him. You cannot get any closer to Bruce Lee than Sifu Taky. He was Si Jo Bruce Lee’s closest friend and as one Bruce Lee Historian once told me wrote more letters to Sifu Taky than anyone else. Although Si Jo Bruce Lee left Seattle in 1964 he visited Seattle twice a year and always showed Sifu Taky what he was working on in the evolution of Jun Fan JKD in Oakland and LA. He trusted and loved Sifu Taky so always kept in touch, kept him up to date and in the loop on what he was doing with respect to the art either through letters or his visits. Si Jo Bruce Lee was in Seattle for 5 years longer than any place he lived other than Hong Kong so considered Seattle his favorite place and was able to focus solely as himself, school, and in teaching Jun Fan Gung Fu while he was in Seattle. Because of this Sifu Taky would always tell me that he understood the totality and full circle of what Bruce was doing and where he wanted to go in regards to Jun Fan JKD.
And because we never did this for money, we were able to keep it the way Si Jo Bruce would have wanted it.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I don’t think I would have changed anything except I would have probably taken more photos when I was younger. And I would have tried to help Sifu Taky spread the art and philosophy of Jun Fan JKD as taught to him by Si Jo Bruce sooner through nonprofit workshops, workshops, Q&A sessions, etc. We have an App that we started about 5 years ago called the Bruce Lee JKD App that is designed to bring Seattle and the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute to people all over the world who can never go to Seattle. Only recently Sifu Taky, his son Andy and I have traveled to different parts of Europe, China, and the United States to promote the art and philosophy of Jun Fan JKD that was taught to Sifu Taky directly from Si Jo Bruce. It would have been nice to this sooner when Sifu Taky was a bit younger as he always enjoys talking about the art and his best friend Bruce Lee with people who want to learn. Sifu Taky is 93 years old now but if we had started sooner then I feel he would have been able to enjoy meeting these people wherever they are. I remember in France talking to someone and he drove 11 hours to meet Sifu Taky and when he told me this he was crying and what a dream come true it is for him. That is passion!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.junfangungfuseattle.com
- Phone: 206-304-1967
- Email: abe@
junfangungfuseattle.com - Facebook: Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute & Bruce Lee and Taky Kimura iPhone App
- Other: Bruce Lee and Taky Kimura iPhone App
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