Bruce Lee vs. Donn Draeger

Draeger Sensei practicing Isshin Ryu Kusarigamajutsu with Shimizu Sensei

​I was talking with a well accomplished local Goju Ryu karate instructor recently and the perennial subject of the icon Bruce Lee came up. 

No, this wasn’t about which style of karate or "non" style is best or which teacher surpasses all others. Though we did chuckle about the “good ole days” when movies like "Fists of Fury" and "Enter the Dragon" were released to the joys of young people everywhere -erh well I was young then!  An urban legend advanced when Bruce Lee first burst onto the big screen here in the US market - that he was one of the “6 best fighters in the world.”  Of course, no one could recite the names of the other five fighters that could best the man let alone the also-rans. Bruce Lee entered that legendary space where his name is probably as well known today as it was over 40 years ago.

By the same token, my friend the karate instructor had no appreciable recollection of Donn F. Draeger other than to acknowledge that he had heard the name somewhere, but couldn’t quite place it.

Donn more than any other Westerner in post WWII Japan was responsible for opening up doors to training in Japanese martial ways and arts for non-Japanese. A generation of Western Budoka, looking to gain access to the fabled land of Mecca for Japanese budo, all knew Donn or was in some way influenced by him.

As a young man (read daikohai) at the original Rembukan Dojo, I remember asking Donn what he thought of Bruce Lee.  Draeger Sensei, himself a man of incredible physical and mental presence, considered the question for a while and if memory serves me correctly, said something like this…. “Well, I know Mr. Lee.  He has everything a good fighter needs, speed, power, technique. He’s worth a good solid Rokudan (6th dan).” ARGUABLY 6TH DAN BACK IN THE MID SEVENTIES WOULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT FROM A 6TH DAN BY TODAY’S STANDARDS. 

Donn went on to say that he knew Mr. Lee’s teacher and many of his seniors in Hong Kong. He respected them and felt that Mr. Lee had not surpassed them in skills.  Finally Donn, ever the realist, said what has surely come to be true: “History has not made clear the impact Mr. Lee has had on the martial arts.  His films are entertaining and his persona has done a lot to entice people into looking into the martial arts, and that’s a good thing. It comes at a cost, however, as it will be hard to separate truth from entertainment over the long haul.”

Mr. Lee is a name known today all over the world, and Donn is also remembered by all of us who came in contact with him. Despite many excellent and serious books on Japanese martial culture, rare to find in English then, Donn’s legacy might be quieter, and this author would guess that Donn would’ve preferred it this way.