Christy

I just like talking about karate history and such.....my only "focus" is to learn something and have a good discussion.

Clearly I'm kinda wacked about what I consider to be "fun."

My own take:

I accept that much like today, Karatemen of the past most likely had some considerable grappling skill from a variety of sources, I personally couldn't care less whether it came from Judo, Jujutsu, or the ever elusive Tegumi - super art

However I also think it's huge leap to say Karate has ever had any kind of integrated whole grappling system taught alongside it.

Furthermore, while I enjoy the bit of grappling crosstraining I do, I personally have no desire to be jack of all trades.

Also I definitely don't want the few people who learn from me to develop the jack of all trades mentality either, it's much more important to me that someone has the depth of understanding to use the more "typical" Karate application as intended than that they develop a matching grappling skillset. All that stuff is fine, but it has to be in perspective if you're still gonna call it Karate.

I guess it's all about what you believe the strategy of Karate is. It seems like today people want Karate to be some amorphous art that encompasses everything under the sun.

Focus is good.