THE ACTUAL HISTORIC STRIKING PAD CREATED FOR AND USED BY BRUCE LEE
This is a unique striking pad created for and owned by Bruce Lee, designed by Lee in collaboration with his friend Herb Jackson, who built specialty equipment for Lee. This historic artifact from Lee’s legendary career is constructed of a dense foam pad and covered in red leather attached to a metal frame with hooks on the side for hanging. A white foam base meant to absorb the blows is attached at the bottom. The item measures 10” in diameter at widest point, and is 6” tall. Overall in very good condition. From the collection of Herb Jackson, whose well-documented friendship with Lee began when he trained in Jeet Kune Do at Lee’s Los Angeles martial arts academy. Before Lee’s move to Hong Kong, he gifted many items to Jackson.
Bruce Lee opened the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in 1967, after filming one season of The Green Hornet. Dan Insanto was one of only three people who were personally certified by Bruce Lee as an instructor. Herb Jackson was Lee’s original backyard student, close friend, and confidante, and ultimately took an active role in improving Bruce Lee’s training equipment. Dan Insanto had initially taught Herb Jackson. This spectacular practice piece comes from the first years of operation of Lee’s Institute.
The largest influence on Lee’s martial arts development was his study of Wing Chun. Lee began training in Wing Chun when he was 16 years old under the Wing Chun teacher Ip Man in 1957, after losing several fights with rival gang members. Yip’s regular classes generally consisted of the forms practice, chi sao (sticking hands) drills, wooden dummy techniques, and free-sparring. There was no set pattern to the classes. Yip tried to keep his students from fighting in the street gangs of Hong Kong by encouraging them to fight in organized competitions.
After a year into his Wing Chun training, most of Yip Man’s other students refused to train with Lee when they learned of his mixed ancestry, as the Chinese were generally against teaching their martial arts techniques to non-Asians. Lee’s sparring partner, Hawkins Cheung, states, “Probably fewer than six people in the whole Wing Chun clan were personally taught, or even partly taught, by Yip Man”. However, Lee showed a keen interest in Wing Chun, and continued to train privately with Ip Man and Wong Shun Leung in 1955. Wan Kam Leung, a student of Wong’s, witnessed a sparring bout between Wong and Lee and noted the speed and precision with which Lee was able to deliver his kicks. Lee continued to train with Wong Shun Leung after returning to Hong Kong from America.
It is thought that this very pad was used by Lee in practicing his famous one-inch punch. The one-inch punch was made popular in the west when demonstrated by Bruce Lee at the Long Beach International Karate Championships in 1964. Bruce Lee learned the technique from his Wing Chun training in Hong Kong. He used the art of Wing Chun as his basis for the martial art he founded, Jeet Kune Do. According to witnesses who attended the event, such as Benny Urquidez (later a pioneer of American full-contact kickboxing), Lee’s one-inch punch sent a 245 lb (111 kg) man flying back.
This piece of history is accompanied by a detailed letter of authenticity from Herb Jackson’s son, Mark Ashton-Jackson, who received this piece by descent. The letter of provenance states: “I certify this striking pad was personally owned and used by Bruce Lee. I inherited it from my stepfather, Herb Jackson, who acquired it directly from Bruce Lee.”
This item is of historical importance and marks a point in time when Bruce Lee was seeking international fame for this martial arts/film career.
