Ko had dedicated her life to preserving traditional Japanese sword arts, training 6 hours daily since age seven, and she viewed the recent influx of foreign martial arts into Japan with skepticism bordering on hostility. She had come to Yamamoto’s dojo specifically because she heard Bruce Lee would be there, intending to make a point about the superiority of classical Japanese martial arts over what she considered trendy modern systems. During Bruce’s demonstration of wooden dummy techniques and pad work, Ko had stood in the back of the dojo, arms crossed, expression making her disapproval obvious.
When Bruce finished and opened the floor for questions, Ko stepped forward before anyone else could speak. Mr. Lee, I have watched your demonstration with interest, and I must say I am not impressed by these techniques against cooperative partners and inanimate training equipment. Traditional martial arts were developed for real combat against armed opponents, not for performance. I am a practitioner of classical Japanese sword arts, and I believe your methods would fail completely against someone trained in traditional weapons.
