Three martial strategies

This interview at Aikido Journal discusses three fundamental forms of martial arts:

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  force meets force (like karate)
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  force joins force (like judo)
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  force avoids force (like aikido)

As he puts it, it's hard to strike while grappling or avoiding, it's hard to avoid while striking or grappling, and it's hard to grapple while striking or avoiding. So these three strategies represent three mutually exclusive ideas about combat. Now this is a little bit of a generalization, but it is meant to be and it is a good one. Each of these arts focuses for the most part on its' own strategy, though each one contains some degree of the other two strategies.
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All three ideas work when circumstances favor. None of these ideas work when circumstances don't favor. At Mokuren Dojo we offer training in all three strategies. It's probably best to specialize in one of the three to a great extent, but for those that want to hedge their bets, here we are.