A Visit to Bruce Lee’s Grave

5.10, July 20 2006. The beginning notes of Fela Kuti’s “Water No Get Enemy” blare from my cell phone. As much as I like the song, I press the Stop button. Although I had a bad night’s sleep I feel surprisingly fit. I can take the time to shower and get dressed. I am in the hotel lobby by 5.40 and can check my e-mails there with a cup of coffee. At 5.50 a small bus stops before the hotel entrance. We had already ordered tickets over the Internet for the ride. We show the driver our tickets and board the bus. This bus picks up people from several of Vancouver’s hotels and drops us off at The Holiday Inn. We have about 10 more minutes to wait before the large coach that takes us to Seattle arrives, so we pop into the  omnipresent Starbucks for some more coffee.

With some 15 passengers board our bus leaves for Seattle which leaves right on time. I eat some of the banana’s I have with me for breakfast and take out the book I am reading. “Disciples of The Dragon” is a collection of interviews made over 15 years with Bruce Lee’s original students. It’s a beautiful day with a clear blue sky. The highway is a 4-way and not the concrete death row I expected. I enjoy the scenery of the Rocky Mountains during the drive.

Halfway on our journey we have to pass the border. Our driver tells us what we are and aren’t allowed to take into the US. Other people have to throw away their bread and apples, but luckily I can keep my bananas. The bus driver tells us: “these people take their job seriously. If you want to do a comedy routine, do it afterwards and we’ll listen to you”. We laugh though we know he’s serious. We have to answer some questions by the border patrol; they take our fingerprints and pictures and we each pay six dollars. A short while later we’re on American soil.

An hour later we enter the outskirts of Seattle. This is the city where Bruce Lee studied Philosophy at the local University, this is the city where he started teaching Martial Arts and this is the city where he got to know his wife. Although Bruce Lee had two funeral services (one in Hong Kong and one in Seattle), it was decided he would be buried in Seattle. There’s one more stop to go (to the airport), but we get off at the Best Western Hotel downtown, very close to the Space Needle, Seattle’s premier tourist attraction (besides Bruce Lee’s grave that is). Our good friend Buddy is waiting for us in the hotel lobby.

First things first: some coffee and something to eat. We were in Vancouver for a full week, but Thursday was the only day that Buddy could make it to Seattle. After our refreshments Buddy orders a cab with this mobile phone. Only five minutes later an orange cab pulls up before the hotel. We ask the cab driver if the can take us to Bruce Lee’s grave. He can, he knows where it is and has brought people there before. Of course: Bruce Lee’s grave is the most visited grave in Seattle. We ask him if he knows a place on the way there that sells flowers. Alex (the cab-driver) says he does. It’s only a short drive to the grave and halfway there we see a flower shop. I ask the lady behind the counter to make me a bouquet with different flowers. She does and moments later we are back on our way. We enter the large cemetery and there is a road up the hill (Seattle is a hilly city). We ride up the hill and Alex points out the grave to us. “It’s over there, where all those people are standing”. Apparently we were not the only people who had thought of Bruce Lee that morning.

As I step out of the cab, I immediately recognize Taky Kimura (Bruce Lee’s first assistant instructor) as he stands talking to some people. Taky is one of the three individuals authorized by Bruce Lee to teach Jeet Kune Do (The Way of The  Intercepting Fist). The other two being James Lee (deceased) and Dan Inosanto. Of course I know that he is the caretaker of Bruce Lee’s grave, but it seems quite a coincidence that he would be there this morning. There’s also a complete Japanese family with children, a young Chinese man cleaning the grave and some other people. I later learn that one man came all the way from Ireland just to visit Bruce Lee’s grave and has done so now for the second time! The smell of incense fills the air. The Japanese are down on their knees praying at the grave. It’s so crowded I have to wait for my turn before I can photograph the grave. When I do I read the short text on the grave stone:

BRUCE LEE

NOV. 27 1940 – 20 JULY 1973

FOUNDER OF JEET KUNE DO

It suddenly hits me: today is July the 20th. No wonder all these people turned up, it’s the 33rd anniversary of Bruce Lee’s death! I hardly keep track of the date at home and even less so when on vacation. This could hardly be called a coincidence. We could only come in July, Buddy could only come on the 20th. and it turns out to be the day he died in 1973: truly amazing.

I get in some more nice photographs of the graves of Bruce and Brandon Lee. Bruce Lee’s son Brandon was buried next to his father after an accidental shooting on the set of the movie “The Crow”. One visitor later tells me if you look at Brandon’s grave from a certain angle it even resembles a crow.

The Japanese family departs and Taky shakes their hands. A little boy waves goodbye and calls out “goodbye Taky”. Taky waves back. After that I have the chance to introduce myself to him. Taky is short, dressed in jeans and shirt, looks very good for a man his age (86) and is very kind. I tell him that I am from The Netherlands and came specifically to Seattle to visit Bruce Lee’s grave. Taky can talk all day (and probably longer) about Bruce Lee. He patiently takes the time to answer all the questions people ask him (and more people arrive in the meanwhile).

The graveyard isn’t dark or somber at all, it is spacious and has an almost bright feel to it. The graves of Bruce and Brandon Lee are well kept. They are beautiful without being overtly ornamental. As far as I can see, there are no other graves with flowers. It is amazing to see people who were clearly not even born when Bruce Lee was still alive, standing at his grave with tears in their eyes. Taky points out a saying that is carved on the back of a bench that is positioned before the graves: THE KEY TO IMMORTALITY IS FIRST LIVING A LIFE WORTH REMEMBERING. It’s a saying by Saint Augustine (354-430) but it fits Bruce Lee perfectly. He also points out that Bruce Lee is buried close to his mother in law. I listened to Taky for a long while: what follows are not his actual words but the information contained in them. Of course I already knew many of the things he said, but it was great to hear it from someone that experienced these things at first hand.

Taky met Bruce Lee through a group of young people like Jesse Glover and Jimmy DeMile who hung out at a store he owned. They told him about a guy that was really good at Martial Arts. Taky is half Japanese and had seen high ranking Karateka at work. But the then 18-year old Bruce Lee totally amazed him and before long he was studying under him.

Before Taky met Bruce Lee he had a low opinion of himself. Bruce taught him we are all united by our common humanity. After a while Taky started thinking: “maybe I am not so low down the totem pole”. He talks enthusiastically about Bruce bringing the Muslims of Bosnia together through a statue that was carved in his likeness. Taky says “there is almost a Third World War going on” and remarks that he is very touched that we took the time and trouble to visit the grave.

Most people know Bruce Lee for his provocative and sometimes derogatory sayings about traditional Martial Arts. But Taky says Bruce taught him to always harbor a respectful attitude towards other arts and individuals. I ask Taky  if he follows  the K-1 at all. He answers that he has seen a bit of it and also some Pride but he doesn’t go into the matter further.

One thing I often noticed when reading the biography’s of Bruce Lee was that he always associated with very modest people like Danny Inosanto and his wife, Linda. Taky Kimura is no exception. I hear him refer to himself as an “old fart”!

One of Bruce Lee’s characteristics was that he could look at something and immediately tell you what was useful and what was “BS”. In fact, Bruce Lee was by no means perfect and had a very bad temper.

One of the things Taky stresses is that Bruce Lee was just a common guy like any of us. “He could tell the dirtiest jokes”. When a young woman listening to Taky asks: “do you remember any of the jokes he told?”. He answers laughing: “I do. But I won’t tell them. They’re too dirty!”. Taky’s son Andy has taken over the teaching although Taky is still involved with the school. It is a private school. If someone just wants to learn how to beat someone up they are sent away. Neither Bruce nor Taky’s schools were of the “learn Kung Fu in 3 easy lessons” type. While most of us know Bruce Lee as a Martial Artist, Taky sees him most of all as a Philosopher. Bruce studied all different kinds of philosophy, both from the East and the West. He gave Taky a message that he still tries to convey to his students all these years later.

If Bruce Lee was anything in Martial Arts it was fast. Of course I already gathered this from reading the interviews with his students. But Taky told me Bruce once sparred with a rated boxer that was one of Muhammed Ali’s sparring partners. Afterwards the man said: “I could hit Muhammed Ali, but I couldn’t hit this guy”. The great Karate champions of the Sixties: Mike Stone, Chuck Norris and Joe Lewis were all students of Bruce Lee. Danny Inosanto (Bruce Lee’s friend and training partner) once saw Bruce sparring with Joe Lewis and reported: “He (Lewis) couldn’t even touch Bruce”.

Of course we also spoke about the film that never came to be: “The Silent Flute”. Bruce wanted Steve McQueen to star in it, but he declined because he didn’t want to get beaten up by Bruce in a movie. So Sterling Siliphant was chosen. They flew over to India to shoot the film there. It was extremely hot and, for a number of reasons, the project never got off the ground. Bruce wanted Taky to star in his unfinished movie “Game of Death”. Taky still has the plane ticket to Hong Kong Bruce sent him. Bruce wanted to repay Taky for what he did for him. But Taky declined. He said to Bruce: “I have two right legs. You know it and I know it.” Bruce also had a Martial Arts expert flown in from Korea to star in the movie, but was disappointed in his skills.

When asked about the movie “Dragon”, that is supposed to depict the life of Bruce Lee, Taky answers that he feels that a lot of things in the movie are inaccurate. For instance, Bruce Lee never fought at the tournament as pictured in the movie. Taky knows Jason Scott Lee (who plays Bruce Lee in the movie) personally and his nephew is a student of Taky. The scene in which Bruce beats up the football players had to be shot in San Francisco, because the Seattle football players didn’t want to get beaten up by anyone, not even in a movie. Taky thinks it was selfish of Brandon not to accept the leading part in “Dragon”. Brandon thought he would be associated too much with this father by doing this. Taky doesn’t think this would have been the case. They got Ruby Chow (Bruce Lee’s first employer in the US) on the scene of the film. But Ruby Chow is a tough lady and when the film crew wouldn’t do everything her way, she soon left. Taky says: “she should be dead by now” and points at a grave with her name on it. A woman present disagrees and tells Taky it must be someone else as she knows for sure Ruby Chow is still alive.

Taky last saw Shannon Lee (daughter of Bruce Lee) when she was five. She starred in several movies, although she majored in in Singing at university. Her movie career more or less dried up. She is now heading the resurrected Bruce Lee Foundation. The new website of the foundation should be online by October. I could listen to Taky all day, but the sun is hot and it’s time for lunch.

Buddy has the cab-driver`s card and calls him up. Back in the taxi we have a discussion with Alex about Bruce Lee’s movies. He knows a lot, as does Buddy, and we give him a good tip. It’s amazing how “The Little Dragon’s” legacy lives on even in the 21st century. In three weeks time I have visited museums, hiked ancient rainforests and went whale watching (my travel log of the rest of the journey is now online): but I will always remember the visit to Bruce Lee’s grave as the best part of the trip.

Text and photographs, Copyright, Julio Online, 2006.

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