Did the asian arts devote a large part of time to grappling before they became big in the us and film? Did karateka's all do judo and did kung fu do functonal grappling?
ttt
This little bits of history (recorded and anecdotal) say yes, originally they did.
No, I'm not saying the kung fu people had the spider guard or the karate people had flying armbars. I'm saying it wasn't all about long distance punching and kicking because sometimes dislocating a joint or throwing someone on their head is a good way to go.
Edit - whoops, I didn't see that you said "large" part of time. No, I don't think non striking training took up a lot of time in striking method training. However, I believe some non striking stuff was included in an effort to increase versatility.
Edit number 2 - yes, lots of the early Japanese karateka did judo. kung fu is supposed to have a jujutsu like method of attacking the joints called chin-na.
Mark
Slick
"Not sure how much grappling they did, since they were probably fighting with weapons most of the time. Would you pull guard against a samurai sword? :)"
No. But look at the jujutsu from the time. Grab the arm (presumably the one holding the sword), destroy the wrist or elbow or shoulder joint and/or drop him on his head.
Mark