Student Teacher

Frank151: Please introduce yourself.
Dan Inosanto: My name is Daniel Inosanto. I was born 75 years ago in Stockton, California. At that time Stockton was the biggest Filipino population in the United States.
F151: And you’re of Filipino descent?
DI: Yes, I’m a “Fil-American” or a Filipino-American. I’m what they call “bridge generation”: I’m a descendant of the first American Filipinos who came from the Philippines. The Americans came in 1898 and became the protectorate for the Philippines. So my father came to the United States via the American occupation in the Philippines.
F151: I’d like to get into your martial-arts background.
DI: I’ve been training in the martial arts since age five. I dabbled in different martial arts. Japanese Judo would be one. Japanese Jujutsu. What they called Okinawa-te, which is Karate. My uncle introduced me to that right after World War II. Since then I went on to study different martial arts—Japanese in origin, Korean in origin, Okinawan in origin. I’ve studied the Chinese martial arts and then progressed to different arts like Indonesian, Malaysian, and Thai. I researched as much as I could on the African martial arts. I enjoy researching and studying different types of martial arts, and I’ve been doing that to this day.


F151: Would it be accurate to say that your greatest proficiency is in Kali / Eskrima / the Filipino arts, and Jeet Kune Do?
DI: I’m known as being one of the three people that Bruce Lee certified in his art of Jeet Kune Do and Jun Fan Gung Fu, but among other people I’m more known in the Filipino martial arts, and other people I’m known more for Indonesian martial arts. But I’m also known for being in Muay Thai. It depends on who you’re talking to.
F151: You’re one of three people who’s actually qualified to teach Jeet Kune Do and carry on that legacy. Were you actually given that torch by Bruce Lee?
DI: Yes, he certified three of us, and that was James Lee, Taky Kimura, and myself, in 1967. We were the first, the original, and the only three that he certified in his arts of Jun Fan Gung Fu and Jeet Kune Do. I was also certified by him in “Bruce Lee’s the Tao of Chinese Gung Fu.” I am the only individual he certified as an instructor in all three of his arts.
F151: Do you mind talking a little bit about your relationship with him?
DI: I met Bruce Lee in 1964 at the International Karate Championships. I was Elimination Tournament Director for Mr. Ed Parker, who organized the first International Karate Championships. At that time I was in charge of Bruce Lee—Ed Parker gave me a certain amount of money to make sure he was fed properly. I escorted him around the Long Beach area of Los Angeles so he could enjoy his stay while giving demonstrations. Then later on we got to be very, very close friends. After the Internationals he stayed about three months here in Los Angeles and I dummied for him. After I dummied for him I said, “I would like to study under you,” and he said, “OK, that’s fine.” He started to teach me in August of 1964. At that time he was my closest friend. When Bruce opened the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Chinatown, I was the head instructor. We remained close friends, and my training with Bruce continued until his death.
F151: When you started training with him you were primarily a Kenpo student?
DI: Yes, at that time I had studied with Henry Slomanski, and then I also studied with Mr. Ed Parker.
F151: Ed Parker had a very high-profile clientele list.
DI: He had a lot of Hollywood people. He was also probably the one who introduced the martial arts to the Hollywood community. He was from Hawaii and he had just graduated from Brigham Young University, and he started teaching people like Terry Robinson. Great martial artist, great insight into what martial arts could do for the American community. I have great respect for him.

F151: Could you give us a quick rundown of the different systems in which you hold rank?
DI: In the Bando system I’m ranked by Dr. Maung Gyi. I’m what they call Fifth-Level Instructor—that would be considered a black belt. I hold a black belt in Kenpo Karate. In the Filipino martial arts I’ve had the privilege to learn under 34 different people. Of the 34 different people I’m ranked in about 18 systems, plus. In the Indonesian system I hold rank under Pak Vic [Victor De Thouars], and his brother [Paul]. I hold rank under Pendekar Herman Suwanda. I hold rank under John DeJong. I also hold rank under Pendekar Eddie Jafri. I hold the rank of Ajarn in Thai Boxing under Ajarn Chai. He’s the head of the Thai Boxing Association in the United States, I am the Vice President. I trained in Thailand and received Krabi-Krabong, High Grade Sash Seventh Degree from Ajarn Sami, in Thai Pichai Yuth and Krabi-Krabong by Ajarn Pramote Mesamana, and High Grade Gold Sash Ninth Degree Krabi-Krabong from Colonel Nattapong Buayam. I also hold rank under Bruce Lee, obviously. Different people came along, I studied at random with them. A lot of these people, at that time they didn’t really have “ranking.”
F151: Why did you start training?
DI: I think if I’m really honest, the fear of getting beaten up [laughs]. And then later on I could see that it definitely helps you grow emotionally, physically, socially, even spiritually. But I think if anyone’s honest, they didn’t go in there to grow spiritually; I think they went in there so they could preserve their body. A lot of people say, “I came in to train martial art because I want to develop spiritually.” I don’t think you do. I think we come in through the physical door and then as we go on we realize, “I can transfer the things I learned mentally in martial arts into other subject matters. I can transfer the things I learned emotionally in martial arts into other areas of my life or my occupation.”
F151: I assume you’ve been to the Philippines and trained there?
DI: I’ve never been to the Philippines, but some of my instructors were from the Philippines.
F151: Would you say there’s a big difference in the training of the martial arts there? The reasons people train and the methods of training?
DI: In the Philippines, in some areas, it would probably be for real, because of the society. Over here, we teach it as a self-defense art, we teach it as a fitness art, we teach it as a hobby for some people. That style—Kali or Eskrima or Arnis—whatever you want to call it—is embedded in a lot of the law enforcement communities here, but most people don’t know that. When I say “law enforcement,” I’m talking about federal law enforcement communities. Every branch you can think of has a student in it.

When Spain was the number-one power in the world, 80% of the fighting ships for Spain were Filipinos; 20% were Spaniards. So the use of the arms, particularly of the bladed weapon and the impact weapon, is very, very real. I have so many different law enforcement people teaching it to their groups—they become instructors in those law enforcement communities. It’s a very potent art, it’s a very realistic art, and it is time-proven. It is, for all general purposes—I hate to use the word because it gets overused—it is very deadly. That’s why when they taught it in the beginning stages, they taught it to a select few. They knew the person who possessed it, if he wasn’t of good character, if he was imbalanced, he could probably do a lot of damage before he was brought down.
F151: It seems like it’s making its way into cinema now, too.
DI: It’s always been in cinema, but they might not call it “Filipino martial arts.” A recent film would be 300.
F151: And the Bourne movies.
DI: There’s so many. Jeff Imada does a lot of it. And it’s good because you can put it almost in any time frame. The Book of Eli, he used it—Denzel Washington.
F151: You have a pretty impressive list of high-profile clientele. Can you talk about that?
DI: There are several that I’m not able to mention by name because it’s sort of an agreement, and I always respect their privacy and their security. Recently Denzel Washington trained extensively for his role in The Book of Eli. Denzel is a “natural.” He learned quickly and really was able to execute the techniques. He was humble and respectful and put all his effort into training. Rob Schneider is a celebrity you might not think of when you say “martial arts,” but he trained with me for his film Big Stan and became really good. He is still a good friend and I think it’s OK to mention him [laughs]. Jeff Imada has worked with more high-profile people than I have, because he’s in the Hollywood community. He’s been my student since he was like 16 years old. He’s now in his 50s. He’s choreographed so many different movies, it’s hard to find any film with fight scenes and martial arts that doesn’t have his name attached to it. His little girl is now training with me in our Inosanto Academy Little Dragons class.
F151: Does your student base come from a mix of backgrounds?
DI: I think it’s very, very mixed—almost from every profession. From white-collar workers to blue-collar workers—if you wanna call it that [laughs]—to different people in law enforcement.
F151: Do you still get physical? Do you still train?
DI: I still train. I train in as many arts as possible. I still train in Muay Thai, I train in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Capoeria, kettlebells, I still train in Shoot Wrestling and Boxe-Francaise Savate from time to time. I definitely still train in the Filipino martial arts, and I still train in the Indonesian-Malaysian martial art of Silat. I still do yoga, pilates, gyrotonics, and a little boxing. I will be 75 this year so I only do my personal training about four days a week and teach classes at my academy in the evening and Thursday mornings. I teach seminars in other states or countries almost every weekend, but if I get a weekend off I try to double up on my personal training.

F151: And you have no plans to retire anytime soon?
DI: If my health goes bad, obviously I would stop, but right now I’m very fortunate that my health is still good, so I’m going to teach until that changes. I hope it doesn’t change.
F151: I’d like to get your take on MMA—the UFC and the ring-fighting mixed martial arts stuff that’s blowing up, especially in Southern California.
DI: We’ve always called our system “mixed martial art.” But there’s a mixed martial art sport, and then there’s a mixed martial art concept. We practice more of a mixed martial art concept. But even practicing a mixed martial art concept, it can be put into the mixed martial art sport, whether it’s no holds barred or if it’s something like the UFC. We’ve had people like Erik Paulson, who’s done very, very well in it. Greg Nelson and Burton Richardson, they’ve had great success in producing good fighters in the UFC. I like the concept. It’s important to learn how to box, it’s important to learn how to do some sort of grappling, it’s important to learn some striking with the hands, elbows, and it’s important to learn how to use your kicking at the different ranges—the total game’s important. It’s like American football.
F151: I’ve heard of so-called “death matches” in the Philippines.
DI: Yes. There was, during the American occupation. When you train with sticks it’s considered a sport. When you train with the sword it’s considered “not a sport.” And there were many of those before the American occupation, and even during the American occupation. I believe it was 1933 when Floro Villabrille had one. He was established as the top stick fighter at that time period. After that year in 1933 the Americans never did it again. In Hawaii they had stick matches. I think 1948 was the last full-contact stick match that they had. At that time they didn’t wear any protection, but nowadays they have WEKAF [World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation] rules. They have face gear, they have body armor, so it protects them pretty well. And then some people, they train with soft stick, which I think is really intelligent, because you can still get hurt with soft stick, and that’s good. And then you have people like in the Pekiti-Tirsia [system]. Sometimes they only wear the head gear, and there’s no hand protector, there’s no elbow protector. It’s a little extreme. One of my students developed Dog Brothers, Marc [“Crafty Dog”] Denny. He likes that, but he may not like that later on as he gets past his 50s.
F151: Are you aware of anybody dying in these death matches?
DI: Yes. In the Philippines many people died in the death matches—the one in Hawaii, the Villabrille fight, in fact. That man died, right after he fought Villabrille, one week in the hospital later on. Sometimes people couldn’t work on the farms for two or three years because their bodies were completely mangled. It was much better than sword, obviously, but you can still get brain damage, you can get a lot of scar tissue, you can break your bones, and it doesn’t heal properly. I don’t think it’s a healthy environment. I like the soft-stick approach. I don’t like the armor approach if you’re gonna do it. But then some people don’t even care to spar and they just want it for exercise, and that’s good too.
F151: I think there’s a lot of misconception about the force that one of those Eskrima sticks can exert.
DI: It doesn’t even have to be hard. If it’s placed properly on your fingers, it’ll break the fingers and you won’t be able to use them for one or two years. You don’t have to have power, you just have to have placement. If the tip of the stick hits the temple or the ridge of the eye or the nose or the jugular or carotid, it can do a lot.
F151: You spoke a little earlier about the Filipino community where you’re from, in Stockton, California. Is there much of a Filipino community in LA and Southern California in general?
DI: Now the Filipino community is spread all over the United States, but at the time I was living there, Stockton was a Mecca of all the different Filipinos. Large numbers of Filipinos moved there, and that’s why if you w\alked down El Dorado Street you could find a stick fighter within a stones throw. It’s just like baseball; some played high school, some played college, some played pro, some people only played in grade school, but everyone knows baseball. And that’s the way it was with Filipinos. Everybody taught in their backyard, pretty much. And it was never taught strictly within the Filipino race; they taught non-Filipinos: Caucasian, African-American, Asian, Hispanic. The only stipulation really was that they were close friends of the family.
F151: Is there one defining moment or period in your martial-arts career?
DI: I really can’t think of one. I’m constantly learning all the time. For me, watching the people that I taught take the art to a higher level, that’s been important to me. I think art should be improved. When you teach it, hand it down. I have no doubt that the students I’ve trained will take the art and in ten years they will better the system that I handed down. And if people are honest, that’s the way it is and that’s the way it should be. As a teacher, I want my students to be better at the arts than I am.

F151: So even as a teacher, you’re still a student.
DI: Oh definitely. Once you stop being a student, you stop growing. When you cease to question anything or you cease to research anything, you stop growing.
F151: Do you have any advice that people can take away from this?
DI: If you love something—whether it’s surfing, or skiing, or painting—that’s where you find yourself. Anything you love to do, that’s where your growth will come. And always keep an open mind. Be open to new things and never be afraid to be a beginner.