The following article, part of a series we will be republishing here, was written by David in November of 2003. We hope you enjoy this series.


I’ve been asked to write a column, a monthly column, here, in the pages of this magazine.  It’s a very exciting idea.  I think I may have been on the cover of the very first issue.  I met Curtis Wong, the publisher of Inside Kung Fu, very early in the original Kung Fu series.  He and his brother came in to play bad guys and have a fight with me.  Curtis had the idea to start a magazine devoted to kung fu right about then.  Sometime during the second year of the series, I decided to study formally with Sifu Kam Yuen.  We went down the road together for quite awhile, as the awareness of kung fu spread wider and wider.  When the series ended, I actually lived at Kam’s Kwoon in Torrance for a while.  Sifu gave me a key and I slept on a cot in a little room in the back.

I should set it straight right from the start that I don’t consider myself any kind of master.  I’ve been an evangelist for the arts for almost three decades, on TV, in movies and in books I’ve written, and instructional videos and seminars.  Most of the artists I’ve worked with over the years, my trainers, the stunt-doubles, the people I’ve fought with and against in movies and television, even some of my teachers, were initially drawn to martial arts while watching the education of Little Grasshopper at the feet of the blind Master Po.  Rob Moses, who has been my teacher, and, I guess, my colleague, for the past twenty years, saw me demonstrating an extreme polk stance on the cover of Inside Kung Fu back in the late ’70′s, and decided he had to learn how to do that.  He found Kam Yuen’s school and proceeded to become arguably the most flexible martial artist in North America.  He was an instructor at the school when I stole him away to train me for Lone Wolf McQuade, the movie I made with Chuck Norris.

At least one person everyday walks up to me and tells me that my show changed their lives.  It’s a big responsibility.  I’ve always felt an obligation to help people out there to find their way.  My message has always been that anyone can play, and you at your own speed are who you’re supposed to be.  Competition has its place, for sure, but that’s never been what I’ve been about.  The real purpose of kung fu, at its purest, as I see it, is to improve the moment to moment texture of our existence.  Practiced to its fullest toward that end, it should do the same for people around us, in an ever-widening circle, like the old ripples which emanate from the pebble dropped in the pond.

Dave Cater, whose idea this may have been (though it’s been in the back of my mind for years, just needing someone to bring it up) told me I can write anything I want here.  Well, I’m going to do that.  I’ll try to make this as “inside kung fu” as possible.  Some of it will be news, some of it my opinions about things.  I have a lot of those.  There are some things I really love, and a few that make me puke just to think about them.  I’d like to spend a certain amount of time talking with other martial artists.  Some of the ones I know have a lot to say.  It’s not all kicks and punches, you know.

Right now, I’m involved in a huge martial arts film, which I’m sure I’ll be talking about here.  It’s directed by Quentin Tarantino, a quirky genius with a special insight into the minds of violent people.  The movie uses the skills of Yuen Wu Ping and his circus troupe of Wu Shu wire artists (Matrix, Crouching Tiger) We Shaolin disciples call them “gung fu circus”.  It was developed, not as a self-defense but at as a Show. Most of it wouldn’t work on the street, although the actual trainers are pretty tough fighters themselves, and the Samurai skills of Sonny Chiba (Streetfighter, Shadow Warrior) are absolute classical perfection.

Sonny has been my swordmaster for the last six months, assisted ably by Tetsuro Shimaguchi.  This is my new discipline which I’ll probably continue to study for all time.  I absolutely love it.  This is a surprise to me.  I wouldn’t have thought I’d even like it.  Samurai is very structured.  You have to do everything just so, and I’ve always been about freedom and going my own way with things.  It’s the style, I think, that intrigues me.  So arrogant, and so polite at the same time.  I’ve taken to it as though born for it.  That sword sings in my hands.  The moves themselves speak to my body at a deep level.  I regret that this new love came to me so late in life, but I’ll just have to hurry to catch up.  One is never too old to start something new.

I’m getting a real kick working with these great fighters like Sonny, and Michael Jai White (Spawn), who is not only an awesome martial artist, but also a deep thinker.  We’ll be talking to him later on.  You’ll be knocked flat by what he has to say.  I’ve been really fortunate to have worked beside some remarkable people in my career: Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis, and Brandon Lee, rest his soul, to name a few of the most obvious.  I’ve picked up some smarts, and some great stories.  So, be patient with me and tune in every month.  I’ll try to pass along as much of this as I can in these pages.