- 6 hours ago
Okichitaw is a martial art founded by George J. Lépine in Toronto, one of the most populous cities in North America and also one of the most cosmopolitan in the world. Indeed, among its 2.8 million inhabitants, no fewer than 180 languages and dialects are spoken. The city is home to people of all origins, religions, and cultures. This cultural diversity is reflected in Okichitaw.
To develop this martial art, George J. Lépine drew inspiration from the martial practices of Canadian Indigenous peoples, which were not formally codified, as well as from historical research on various other combat techniques. The result is a martial art that combines diverse fighting techniques and ancestral Indigenous weapons, which has been modernized and codified. Today, Okichitaw is recognized as one of Toronto’s cultural treasures.
To develop this martial art, George J. Lépine drew inspiration from the martial practices of Canadian Indigenous peoples, which were not formally codified, as well as from historical research on various other combat techniques. The result is a martial art that combines diverse fighting techniques and ancestral Indigenous weapons, which has been modernized and codified. Today, Okichitaw is recognized as one of Toronto’s cultural treasures.
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00:00Thank you for listening.
01:30With its 2.8 million inhabitants, mixing 180 languages and dialects, Toronto is the fourth most populous city in North America behind Mexico, New York, and Los Angeles.
02:12It is a commercial art called Okichita.
02:14It is at the cultural center of the indigenous community,
02:43the native Canadian center, where George Lapine teaches Okichita, which he developed and set up in Canada.
02:51The martial art is based not only on technique, but also on methods of fighting the first nations of North America.
02:58It uses all the body parts and weapons used by the natives.
03:03Okay.
03:04Okay.
03:05Okay.
03:06Okay.
03:07Side-up.
03:08Take a moment.
03:09Take a moment.
03:10Do a left bird.
03:11It's the end of the world.
03:12I think it's going to move.
03:14Okay.
03:15Okay.
03:16Okay.
03:17Okay.
03:18This way.
03:19Go.
03:20Okay.
03:21Okay.
03:22Okay.
03:23Go.
03:24Okay.
03:25Okay.
03:26Okay.
03:27This way.
03:28Go.
03:29Okay.
03:30Okay.
03:31Okay.
03:32Okay.
03:33Okay.
03:34Okay.
03:35Okay.
03:36Okay.
03:37Okay.
03:38Okay.
03:39Okay.
03:40Okay.
03:41Okay.
03:42Well, I'm the chief commissioner of the country.
03:44My name is Okimakan , George Lapine.
03:46My name is Okima Khan, I'm Kisuke Nuhumuku, George Lupin, I am the Chief Instructor of
04:00Okijita Martial Arts for Canada.
04:03I've been doing martial arts for many, many years, but I'm known as...
04:06I originally learned a lot of the different techniques of Indian wrestling and impact
04:10techniques when I was a very young boy with my family.
04:13My uncles were always teachers in Aboriginal martial arts and different types of tactics
04:17like knife fighting or the use of wrestling, things of this nature.
04:22We have a lot of our techniques, but we never ever had them really structured.
04:26So I originally started learning how to do some Indian wrestling and things of that nature
04:30and weapons as well.
04:31And I got into other martial arts and understood that we had to develop a structure so we could
04:35actually teach it to everybody.
04:39Besides fighting techniques, cardio exercises are very important in this martial art.
04:45For some, they even become indigenous traditions.
04:48And we have pride in earth.
04:50We'll try to help you in.
05:04Unknown said this is a personal battle.
05:07The wanna put your body on to first stage is sehrしい zusammen!
05:14To better develop this art, Master Lapine was inspired by his own knowledge in fighting
05:24in martial arts that combined with its historical discoveries and indigenous values.
05:44Since 1997, Master Lapine has elaborated his knowledge to allow the Okichita to be the modern martial art it is today.
06:14So, Okichita comes from the word Okichita Tawak, of worthy men, and what we're trying to do is we're trying to teach men to become worthy and to be warriors of peace within the community.
06:41So, if you learn other martial arts, for example, you would learn that culture.
06:45When you learn Okichita, you learn the Plains Cree culture.
06:48So, the Plains Indians, we have a certain type of culture associated with our living, and martial arts are tied into that.
06:54So, you would learn the Plains way of doing things.
06:57So, the ceremonies, the gifts of the Creator, things of that nature, and those types of tactics as well.
07:05Deeply respectful and attentive, students enjoy learning with a teacher,
07:09with over 35 years' experience.
07:12A 6th Dan black belt in Taekwondo, a black belt in Hapkido, and a brown belt in Judo.
07:18Like many martial arts, movements are repeated several times until the perfect master's
07:46gesture.
07:47until the perfect mastery of gesture.
08:17So if we look at the martial art of Okichita, it's all based on the tomahawk, the gunstock
08:24war club, the knife, and if we name them in our language, we say tamyak for the tomahawk,
08:29dok tina mistik for the gunstock, and mukhiman for the knife.
08:33And all the weapon techniques are applied to the hand techniques as well.
08:37So if you swing a tomahawk, we swing the hand the same way.
08:40If we press a knife into something, we press our hands into the same way.
08:43So all the philosophy and the structure is based on all the weapon techniques in Okichita.
08:47You know what, I'm doing everything nice like this, just the reality, and then we start dealing
08:52with flicking, right?
08:53So I'm like this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and this, right?
08:56Totally different.
08:58I've got to be good.
09:00Oh yeah.
09:02Yeah, I mean again, it's crushing and finishing out.
09:05So when we look at that last direction, it's crushing and finishing out.
09:08So the situation, one-on-one fights, they have a nice and movie, their whole choreograph,
09:12and all the other stuff, right?
09:13But in reality, identify your opponent, challenge with courage, finish up, and move on to your
09:19next.
09:20Yeah.
09:21Okay.
09:22Great.
09:28Hey, thank you.
09:40Ayahuatl.
09:40Toronto has a public transport system, which is the second longest urban network on the
10:02North American continent.
10:32Not far from the city are the Toronto Islands, an archipelago of small islands accessible by ferry, comparable to our river shuttles. Their location protects the port of Toronto.
10:50I'll see you next time.
11:14Beyond the area of the Toronto Islands Airport, car use is prohibited, making it the largest
11:29urban area without cars in North America.
11:43A small residential community has sprung up, and walks in this area have become a popular
11:48destination as the amusement park on the islands.
12:09Besides being a haven of peace, the islands offer one of the best views of the city of
12:14Toronto.
12:21We have an international community meeting, at the U.S.
12:50Fort York is a historic military fort whose construction located west of downtown Toronto
13:08was ordered by Colonel John Graves Simcoe, Lieutenant Governor of the British Province
13:14of Upper Canada.
13:14He chose this site to establish a naval base and control Lake Ontario due to a possible
13:22war with the United States.
13:27He also moved the provincial capital to Toronto, from the border and vulnerable town of Niagara.
13:32Toronto he later renamed York.
13:42The first garrison arrived in 1793 while the first barracks and brick were built in 1815.
13:57Today, Fort York is a museum where the barracks serve as fingerprints of history, restored
14:12as at the time, and to discover the lifestyle of these settlers who came to defend Canada.
14:22It's um, the haunted Beautiful方 wattage region byằ Botonal
14:23and a place where it bilis South extent.
14:25Now, yet, of course, if you have friends, has arrived at calajous curiosity of Canada.
14:27And then, Fort York doesn't even know where The Orient person was, kantcheous,
14:28in pick-up High hariny route for Christmas or Christmas in, X challenges for Christmas.
14:29Radical mantle is high, but gentlemanague핑莫 believed that he had had somethan sacred
14:33of driver's warranty.
14:34And then the marine ship study would certainly be his highest那我們 to promise.
14:34It's an automobile and cultural method of thin Papa's
15:21Rooms are also dedicated to the turbulent military past of Ontario.
15:51When we live in a city, I tell the young men and women, we have, no matter what nation
16:02they come from, we have a responsibility to, we get educated by the white men, but we need
16:10to have our own education.
16:12We have to keep our culture alive, and that's what we're doing.
16:18I'm a living example.
16:22I live my culture the best I can, and some native people think they're hard done by it because
16:32they're native people, sorry for themselves.
16:34I tell them, don't think that way, be proud.
16:38We have two cultures, we have the culture of the Donovan society, and it's very Donovan,
16:45and we're part of it, whether we like it or not, we're part of it.
17:01We can work out what he's talking about.
17:04The museum houses galleries featuring traditional items and weapons of the time.
17:08If you don't know your culture, you don't know who you are, I know who I am.
17:31If you don't know your ancestors, then you don't know who you are, I know who I am.
17:38If you don't know your ancestors, then you don't know who you are.
17:41I know who my ancestors are.
17:43And we're like a family.
17:44When I go there, the young people there, when I go to support my nephew in the program,
17:50they see that, and they call me uncle or Mushom.
17:55Mushom means grandfather.
17:57And my name, I've earned my name with Chapin Asin, great-grandfather Asin.
18:04Asin means rock, means stone.
18:07And rock, my belief is as solid as a rock.
18:16Today is the support of the city of Toronto, but also friends of Fort York,
18:21and other community members that make this a living history museum.
18:28Toronto has many high rises.
18:29WHERE, IN 2014, EURVE, NATION
18:45иком would have come to be rich and innocent.
18:49Toronto has many high-rises, where, in 2014, it had 147 towers under construction, more
19:02than New York.
19:19New York City
19:49Contrary to what some might think, the Okichita is a martial art also allowed for children.
19:56It has just been adapted so that they can practice it more simply.
20:00This is particularly evident from the sessions that are more relaxed than for adults.
20:19Let's go!
20:29Throw the ball! Let's go!
20:49As with adults, cardio is important, and warming up begins the same way.
21:03Okichita, it was kind of a gift that was brought towards me from the elders in our community.
21:28As a martial artist for over 40 years, I was approached by the elders to say,
21:33we need to have our own system taught to our community and to share our story.
21:37So I was actually pushed by the elders to be able to deliver this to our community and beyond.
21:42So I was actually empowered by our native leaders to be able to move forward on this.
21:47So it wasn't just me, it was our community that came together and also the guidance of our elders.
21:52As our elders say, we want to become warriors of peace.
21:55It's very, very important that we embrace the philosophy of peacefulness,
21:58but also have that application of courage as well.
22:01So if we look at Okichita, the philosophy behind Okichita is something like this.
22:06Make my enemy strong, courageous, and brave, for if I defeat him, I will not be ashamed.
22:11So we want people to learn how we have our indomitable strength and power,
22:15and also share our culture with them as well.
22:18So if you did Japanese martial arts, you would learn Japanese culture.
22:21You did Chinese martial arts, you'd learn Chinese culture.
22:24When you do Okichita, you learn our Kree culture.
22:27And it's very, very important because we believe that we're inherently responsible for Mother Earth,
22:32and we have a great connection to the Great Spirit.
22:34We want to share that with someone.
22:36And it's very, very important that we share our stories so we don't lose our history.
22:40Very quietly.
22:41Seek out to your target.
22:42Very quietly.
22:43Bring the legs.
22:44First.
22:45First.
22:46First.
22:47Nice.
22:48First.
22:49Nice.
22:50Nice.
22:51Nice.
22:52Nice.
22:53Nice.
22:54Nice.
22:55Nice.
23:30Children are as attentive as adults when Master Lapine provides technical explanations.
23:43And they seem more relaxed than adults if they remain highly concentrated.
23:50Even the children's classes are mixed.
24:15One of the challenges that we've had with Okichita and our history as Indians in North America
24:43is that our translation of history has always been through oral translation.
24:48So we've always been able to speak about the techniques and show the techniques,
24:51but we've never had a formal writing system.
24:53We're in a society now where we have a variety of different media means and applications
24:58that we can actually record and document our system.
25:00And what we're looking for now is to be able to document and library and categorize our martial art
25:06in a structure that we can share with the rest of the world.
25:09We always talk about the Indian way of sharing our story and our experiences and our beliefs.
25:14We believe that we are now moving into that realm now where we can actually use media
25:18to actually capture Okichita and share it with the rest of the world.
25:22That's what our community really wants to do and that's what our elders want us to do as well.
25:26And we will do that.
25:29Good luck to hold the head.
25:31We are on one knee.
25:32There you go.
26:03Children have acquired great discipline over time with Master Lapine and are still amazed by the exercises done by adults.
27:03Here, we do not distinguish between men and women because in combat, you cannot choose the sex of your opponent.
27:19This allows a large variety of fighters during training and belt passages.
27:26On the other hand, there is no competition for this martial art which, despite its many blends of combat sports, resembles a self-defense art.
27:36There are two combat sports in addition to the Cree style that is found in Okichita, Judo and Taekwondo.
28:01Okay, guys, Mr. Parker, have a good day.
28:06Thank you, buddy.
28:21Thank you for having me.
28:51At the end of each training, everyone gives a hand in tidying up the room, a very important team spirit to Master Lapine.
30:32Lake Ontario has an amazing view when joining the Niagara River with its famous waterfalls.
31:00Despite a variety of activities to do in the city of Niagara Falls, only the falls are known worldwide.
31:07The three falls are located at the U.S.-Canadian border and are 13 stories high.
31:18Although they are not very high, they are very impressive in their speed as they pour more than 6.8 million litres of water per second.
31:27The falls are also a huge source of hydroelectric power, while preservation remains a real ecological challenge.
31:43This natural wonder has been an ideal place for tourists for over a century.
31:50This natural wonder has been an ideal place for tourists for over a century.
31:57This natural wonder has been an ideal place for tourists for over a century.
32:12This natural wonder has been an ideal place for tourists for over a century.
32:19To be continued...
32:28To be continued...
33:32Where you can discover and visit this fort, which served as a military post in the battle against the United States during the War of 1812.
33:40So this ritual, what I'm doing right now, this is a ritual.
33:49And that's a very important one.
33:52We call it smudging, but the proper name is ritual purification.
33:58What I'm doing is cleaning myself to do, to step into the circle.
34:03Everything that we do, I serve.
34:06And so when I do it, and when I work with the little people, and my grandchildren, great-grandchildren, I teach them, I say, you clean your mouth so you can say good things.
34:19You clean your ears so you can hear good things.
34:23You clean your eyes so you can see good things.
34:25And most of all, you clean your spirit so you can feel good things.
34:30And we do this, and anything we are going to do of importance at ceremonies or anything we're going to do before we go into martial arts, before we do anything, we do this ritual.
34:44This is very special, you notice that it's braided, it's braided, and when I don't have my bonnet on, I have my braid.
34:57And the braid represents our Mother Earth, her hair.
35:01Sweetgrass is our Mother Earth's hair.
35:04And respect for women and for the culture, we braid her hair.
35:11And we braid the sweetgrass.
35:14Because this is Mother Earth, her hair.
35:17All right.
35:21See, they have the little windows like that, so we'll get dead light in there, but also so the soldiers can put their guns through them.
35:29They get a lot of time.
35:30Yeah.
35:31For sure.
35:44In 1796, the construction of the fort began, and even today you can see the fort surrounding the fort.
35:49It's stockade, planted above the curtain of earth that connected two of the six stones.
35:55Bastions of the fort, the bastions of the fort, the bastions of the fort, and even today you can see the fort, surrounded by its stockade, planted above the curtain of earth that connected two of the six stone bastions of the fort.
36:10It is called a prayer pipe, and a lot of times, a lot of non-Native people, they think that they've seen too many John Wayne movies and they call it a peace pipe.
36:17There's no such thing as a peace pipe, it's a prayer pipe, it's a prayer pipe, a prayer pipe, and we pray for peace, and we pray for peace, and we pray for peace.
36:47We pray even when we use it to go into war, we pray, it's not a peace pipe, it's a prayer pipe, it's our, in many ways, it's our Bible, we consider this is our Bible, and as my nephew mentioned about the sweat lodge, the purification lodge ceremony is our synagogue, our church, our cathedral, it's so natural too, we sit on mother earth and we pray.
37:17And we, we heat out grandfather rocks, and then we put water on them, and we clean ourselves from the breath of the rocks.
37:47We put water on them, and we put water on them, and we burn thema.
38:03Toronto is like many other U.S. cities with large skyscrapers.
38:18It is a real industrial center, important commercially and financially, and produces
38:24more than half of the manufactured goods from Canada.
38:28Its economic dynamism attracts all kinds of industries such as media, advertising and
38:34fashion, but also service companies such as insurance, banks or health-related organizations.
38:58At nightfall, the second life begins for the people of Toronto.
39:02It is not uncommon to see them doing an activity after dinner.
39:06Indoor or outdoors, people like to enjoy this diverse city.
40:19The bars and restaurants of Toronto are just as cosmopolitan as the city.
40:23It includes all the cuisines of the world.
40:48In order to teach Okichita to as many as possible, Master Lepine also lectures in other places,
41:02as here in the Riverdale neighborhood, which became, over time, one of the new Chinese neighborhoods in the city.
41:09Master Lepine carries on traditions with fun warm-ups to the sound of drums and Native American chants.
41:24Heels up.
41:33You're going to hit one quad harder than the other.
41:35Cross and step.
41:36Three weapons are used mainly in learning the Okichita,
41:39whose notini Tawan mystic is the war club,
41:43and most of them are used in the war club.
41:45Three weapons are used mainly in learning the Okichita,
41:50whose notini Tawan mystic is the war club,
41:56and mokoman, the Native American knife, as seen here.
42:01Three weapons are used mainly in learning the Okichita,
42:05whose notini Tawan mystic is the war club,
42:09and mokoman, the Native American knife, as seen here.
42:36If the first usage of the knife was for hunting or camping, it soon became useful for hand-to-hand
42:56combat during the wars.
43:26Our martial art is non-competitive.
43:43We believe that competition is actually weakening.
43:47And the other application of Okichita, the techniques are very, very aggressive and very
43:51hard as far as physical force that's executed.
43:54So they're very committed and we don't limit ourselves by rules and applications because
44:00we believe in warfare or any type of combat engagement.
44:03It's about self-preservation.
44:05So the techniques in Okichita are very aggressive and they're techniques to finish out your opponent.
44:11We deliver it through four applications.
44:13The east, the south, the north and the western direction.
44:18So we identify our challenge, embrace with courage, finish out as soon as possible and move
44:23on to our next adversary or challenge.
44:25And those happen very, very quickly in Okichita.
44:28Ok, so we're just going to go through elimination, so if anyone loses that, just go back to the circle and they can come back in again.
44:44Ok?
44:45Ok.
44:46Ready?
44:47One.
44:48Two.
44:49Three.
44:50Still on.
44:51Still on.
44:52Still on.
44:53Still on.
44:54You can wait from the ground.
44:57Good.
44:58Good.
44:59Good.
45:00Good.
45:01Good.
45:02Good.
45:03Good.
45:04Good.
45:05Good.
45:06Good.
45:07Good.
45:08Good.
45:09Good.
45:10Good.
45:11Good.
45:12Anytime.
45:13One way to see if the teachings were assimilated after learning is the game of the knife fight.
45:16Hold on.
45:17Good.
45:18Next one in.
45:19One.
45:20Two.
45:21Three.
45:22Every.
45:23Make sure to get the grab, right?
45:24Okay.
45:25So, what's happening is you're gonna� two, three.
45:31Four.
45:32Good.
45:33Good.
45:34The rule is simple.
45:36The first one who was touched by the knife blade loses and the winner remains
45:40The winner remains in play until another one wins.
45:43Again we see that the gender of the student does not come into consideration for the choice
46:11of opponent, only the technique counts.
46:31The third weapon mainly used in Okichita is the Chikii Kunis, the Native American tomahawk.
46:41In Okichita what we embrace is that we do have a bit of a formal belt system but it's
46:47very loosely applied and what I mean by this is we look for the commitment of the warrior
46:51to be able to embrace the philosophy and the physical attributes of Okichita.
46:56So it takes quite a long time for someone to reach a level of say black.
47:00We look at black, that colour, as the great mystery.
47:02We believe that when we move into black it's very very difficult and you learn new things.
47:07The application to move to red belt is basically that somebody is dealing with struggle continuously
47:13to make themselves a great warrior of peace.
47:16Until they move into the southern doorway, they start in the eastern doorway, they're brand
47:19new, they move to the southern doorway they start embracing struggle and challenge and
47:22difficulty and when they move to the northern doorway they start learning the gifts of the
47:26warrior and they're able to share those experiences with other people in their community.
47:30When we see them move to the northern doorway then they move to the belt of red.
47:34That means they embrace that philosophy and then eventually they move to the western doorway
47:38to show that there are embracing of worthy men.
47:41They're being what we call Nehe'awak.
47:43In the Cree way that means a true warrior.
48:04As Warriors of Peace, it is very very important that we understand the beauty around us and when we
48:23As warriors of peace, it's very, very important that we understand the beauty around us.
48:29And when we have our prayers, we pray to the great spirit, to our brother, our eagle staff
48:34and things of that nature.
48:35But it's very simple.
48:36We're only humans and he has to have pity on us, but we're trying to make ourselves
48:40better people every day.
48:41And by being a warrior of peace, we give back to the community.
48:45The first person I want to honor today is David.
48:53Master Lapine burns sage before presenting the colored belts to his students.
48:57You may change color if you can handle the seven round sweatshirt.
49:03See what happens.
49:08He's, uh, you know, what's great about him?
49:20Allow us to embrace our teachings of our past and make our nation stronger for the future.
49:24As we move to the southern doorway, the doorway of struggle, the doorway of challenge.
49:28Allow us to take a look at what we call the volunteers, your teachers' great spirit,
49:31make sure that we put them in the doorway.
49:33Norway in the AOWAC, Norway in the great warriors, the warriors of crazy horse, big bears, sitting
49:38together.
49:39The most cosmopolitan city of the world, in which mutual respect, populations of all backgrounds,
50:01including different faiths and cultures, coexist together.
50:04This cultural diversity is reflected in the martial art Okichita that was created and
50:09developed by George Lapine.
50:11This man struggles to convey the cultural and philosophical values of the Amerindian peoples
50:15through his teaching.
50:17He has combined the fighting techniques of his ancestors to existing combat sports.
50:22The Okichita is an original martial art that has preserved its rituals and carries
50:26with it a piece of Canadian history.
50:27The Okichita appears with it a piece of Canadian history.
50:28The Okichita appears with it a piece of Canadian history.
50:33Thank you on this course, who is tha.
50:34The word of port will be a piece of Canadian history, Mick.
50:37This is the f Chef's Jaime Cosa, another religious twinaksi.
50:38It is my mother,ce of a Japanese history.
50:39The heart of his Allah, cos alcanz and the figure horse is dedicated to the positioning of the
50:40trouve up that we can imagine.
50:42The thing is growing improved and enjoying the world.
50:43The peace flil frase in the country has emerged.
50:44The thirdstrantal��ism forever.
50:45The world modworkinganda is an introduction, every kind of envoy and consent-time humanity.
50:46And the personality thinks and has learned the truth in motion,
50:48the traditional country has established Member Refer discovering.
50:49What do you think?
50:50The strength and other want of this creative force in Jakichita warns to acknowledge that page
50:52do Whititions in Montreal
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