By Richard Bustillo | Photography by Robert Reiff

I received my first exposure to the four gates of wing chun kung fu while studying jeet kune do under Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto in the late 1960s. They taught me that the gates represent a method for defending against circular strikes such as the hook punch.

There are four gates because of where such strikes can originate: the high-right quadrant, the high-left quadrant, the low-right quadrant and the low-left quadrant.

Wing chun also includes straight punches and defenses against them, but those techniques aren’t part of the four-gates method. After having trained extensively in boxing and devoted much of my life to Lee’s jeet kune do, I opted to add a fifth gate.

It applies to defense against a straight rear-hand punch and a straight lead-hand jab. When studied together, these five defensive methods, which I call the five gates of jeet kune do, constitute an essential component of self-defense.

Bruce Lee taught us the importance of being simple, direct and practical in our martial arts training and fighting, and that concept also applies to the five gates. Just because they’re defensive in nature, they should not be considered passive. In fact, nothing in the five-gates method should be viewed as passive blocking.

A superior defense consists of a block effected with one hand (or foot) executed simultaneously with a strike from the other hand (or foot).

In my comments, I’m not trying to teach a comprehensive lesson on the five gates of jeet kune do or to convey a complete picture. Rather, my intention is to show a few examples of what I’ve found to be effective — to indicate what’s possible when you use this fighting method.

The combinations I demonstrate should take a fraction of a second to do, with the exact duration depending on the movements themselves. It’s up to you to grasp the full scope of the techniques, to choose what to take and, if appropriate, what to adapt.

The one central principle you should always apply is physical efficiency of speed and power.