Bruce wanted him in the movies, but he wanted to teach.
March 12, 1924: Takauki “Taky” Kimura, Bruce Lee’s closest friend and one of the few men certified to teach Jeet Kune Do, was born in Clallam Bay, Washington.
Before he became Bruce Lee’s most trusted student, Taky Kimura was a young Japanese American whose life had already been upended by war.
He was a Nisei, born in the United States to Japanese immigrant parents. Like more than 120,000 other Japanese Americans during World War II, his family was forcibly removed from their home and incarcerated by the U.S. government. It was just one day before his high-school graduation.
They were sent first to Tule Lake, and later to Minidoka. By the time the war ended, everything had changed.
When the camps closed in 1945, many Japanese American families returned to communities that had been stripped away from them.
Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration
After the government’s 1943 “loyalty questionnaire,” Tule Lake was turned into a segregation camp. Man who answered favorably were transferred elsewhere.
Courtesy of National Park Service / Suzuki Family Collection
Family members stand in the snow at Minidoka, Idaho, during the winter of incarceration. Behind them, thin wooden barracks offered little protection from the cold.
AP Photo
Japanese Americans weren't welcomed back. The Nagaishi family returned from an incarceration camp to their vandalized home in Seattle, May 10, 1945.
Courtesy of the Seattle Japanese Language School
They had to make do. For instance, the Seattle Japanese Language School became a shelter for many Japanese Americans returning from incarceration camps.
Starting Over
Homes were gone. Businesses had been sold or lost. Years of savings had disappeared. Like many others, the Kimura family began rebuilding their lives in Seattle.
Taky helped his family run their neighborhood grocery store. The work was steady, and the business slowly recovered.
But for Taky, the war had interrupted something more personal.
He had never finished high school. The years that should have been spent building a future had been lost behind barbed wire.
By his mid-thirties, he felt worn down and lacking direction.
Meeting Bruce Lee
In 1959, a charismatic 18-year-old martial artist named Bruce Lee arrived in Seattle.
Lee had recently come from Hong Kong and began teaching martial arts to a small circle of students. His approach was unconventional. At a time when many martial arts schools limited instruction based on race or rigid traditions, Lee welcomed anyone willing to learn.
Taky Kimura found a new sense of purpose. He became one of Lee’s most dedicated students.
Their training sessions soon turned into a close friendship built on discipline, trust, and mutual respect. Kimura even served as best man at Bruce Lee’s wedding to Linda Lee Cadwell. Lee later described Kimura as one of the people he trusted most.
Taky Kimura sparring with Bruce Lee in Seattle, where the two trained and developed a lifelong friendship.
Linda Lee Cadwell with Bruce Lee. Linda was also Bruce’s student, and Taky Kimura later served as the best man at their wedding.
Bruce Lee wrote to his student Taky Kimura: “Non-fixation, non-straining and non-striving, but aim at the spontaneous development of yourself. Good luck. — Lee Siu Loong (Bruce)”
Taky Kimura and Bruce Lee practicing Jun Fan Gung Fu. Taky devoted his life to studying and teaching Lee’s martial arts.
One of the Few Chosen to Teach
As Bruce Lee developed his martial arts philosophy, he created a new system called Jeet Kune Do. Lee believed martial arts should be adaptable, efficient, and deeply personal — not bound by rigid forms or traditions.
He was also extremely selective about who could teach it. Only three of his students were ever personally certified by Lee. Taky Kimura was one of them.
As Bruce Lee’s fame grew in Hollywood, Lee encouraged Kimura to appear in his films.
Kimura declined. Instead, he chose to continue teaching, passing on the lessons Lee had developed. While Lee’s influence spread through cinema, Kimura carried it through the martial arts community.
The Teacher Behind the Legend
After Bruce Lee’s sudden death in 1973 — where Kimura served as one of the pallbearers — many of Lee’s students continued teaching in different ways.
Kimura became one of the most respected guardians of Lee’s legacy. For decades, he taught the principles Lee had developed, emphasizing discipline, humility, and personal growth. He never charged his students.
For Kimura, martial arts was never about fame. It was about learning and helping others do the same. Bruce Lee may have wanted him in the movies. Taky Kimura chose to teach.
“Bruce is the reason why I am able to lift my head up with pride, and he is also the reason why I have strived to improve my life every day… The best legacy I can leave the world is a perpetuation of the legacy of my best friend, Bruce Lee.” — Taky Kimura
Photo Courtesy of Knownows
First-generation Jeet Kune Do students at Bruce Lee’s memorial, sometimes referred to as the “Four Horsemen.” Taky Kimura is second from the right.
Most people admired Bruce Lee, but Taky Kimura loved him. Sifu Kimura devoted his life to teaching Bruce Lee’s martial arts and preserving his legacy.