Well, I've learned a great deal recently about the origins of modern karate, and those historical factors have cleared much of my frustration about my training.
I couldn't figure out: "why is there almost no grappling in our training, when the kata (if interpreted in accordance with the original Okinawan styles of fighting) include many throws, chokes, strangles and jointlocks?" Several answers came to mind when I was pondering this question for the last year or two - few of them good. Maybe the techniques were "lost" to our style. Maybe they were considered too risky to practise in our dojos? Maybe the style I was studying didn't value such methods as effective?
The answer was provided by content I found at http://www.downloadkarate.com/. The Shitoryu style shown here seems extremely similar to previous stuff I learned (probably the strongest resemblence I've come across in all my trawling of many karate websites on the web) and it is backed up by some great information about how the Japanese historically changed the emphasis of karate to give it different properties to the Okinawan emphasis.
Now at least I can see how the techniques I'm learning fit into the self-defence/sportkarate/mindbodyspirit picture.
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