- 2 days 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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Short filmTranscript
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.
03:07Let's light up.
03:08Take a moment.
03:09Okay.
03:10Let's light up.
03:11Okay.
03:12Take a moment.
03:14Let's light up.
03:15Okay.
03:16Let's light up.
03:17Take a moment.
03:19Let's do a left bird.
03:20Can I still hit the moe?
03:21Okay, let's go.
03:22Okay.
03:23Take a moment.
03:26Let's move.
03:27Okay.
03:28My name is Okimakan Kisuke Nakumoku, George Lupin.
03:58I'm the Chief Instructor of Okijita Martial Arts for Canada.
04:03I've been doing martial arts for many, many years, but I'm known as the Chief Instructor
04:07for this indigenous martial arts system.
04:09I originally learned a lot of the different techniques of Indian wrestling and impact
04:13techniques when I was a very young boy with my family.
04:16My uncles were always teachers in Aboriginal martial arts and different types of tactics
04:20like knife fighting or the use of wrestling, things of this nature.
04:25We have a lot of our techniques, but we never ever had them really structured.
04:29So I originally started learning how to do some Indian wrestling and things of that nature
04:32and weapons as well.
04:34And I got into other martial arts and understood that we had to develop a structure so we could
04:38actually teach it to everybody.
04:42Besides fighting techniques, cardio exercises are very important in this martial art.
04:48For some, they even become indigenous traditions.
04:55To better develop this art.
05:02To better develop this art, Master Lapine was inspired by his own knowledge in fighting
05:27and martial arts that combined with its historical discoveries and indigenous values.
05:57Since 1997, Master Lapine has elaborated his knowledge to allow the Okichita to be the modern martial art it is today.
06:27So Okichita comes from the word Okichita Tawak, of worthy men.
06:38And 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.
06:44So if you learn other martial arts, for example, you would learn that culture.
06:47When you learn Okichita, you learn the Plains Cree culture.
06:50So the Plains Indians, we have a certain type of culture associated with our living and martial arts are tied into that.
06:56So you would learn the Plains way of doing things.
06:59So the ceremonies, the gifts of the Creator, things of that nature and those types of tactics as well.
07:07Deeply respectful and attentive, students enjoy learning with a teacher with over 35 years experience.
07:14A 6th Dan black belt in Taekwondo, a black belt in Hapkido, and a brown belt in Judo.
07:26Like many martial arts, movements are repeated several times until the perfect mastery of gesture.
07:51ere with over 35.
07:52Music
08:01Music
08:08Music
08:12Music
08:18Music
08:21So if we look at the martial art of Okichita, it's all based on the tomahawk, the gunstock
08:27war club, the knife, and if we name them in our language, we say tamyak for the tomahawk,
08:32piltina mistik for the gunstock, and mukhiman for the knife.
08:36And all the weapon techniques are applied to the hand techniques as well.
08:40So if you swing a tomahawk, we swing the hand the same way.
08:43If we press a knife into something, we press our hands into the same way.
08:46So all the philosophy and the structure is based on all the weapon techniques in Okichita.
08:51And then we start dealing with flicking, right, so I'm like this, and this, and this, and
08:58this.
08:59Right?
09:00Totally different.
09:01I've got to be good.
09:02Oh, yeah.
09:03I've got to be good.
09:04I've got to be good.
09:05I've got to be good.
09:06I've got to be good.
09:07Again, it's crushing the conditionality.
09:08So when we look at that last direction, it's crushing the conditionality.
09:11So the situation, one-on-one fights, they have a nice smoothie, they're all choreographed,
09:16and all that other stuff.
09:17So I've got to be good.
09:18So if you're a little girl, you're like the same thing.
09:19But in reality, identify your opponent, challenge with courage, finish up, and move on to your
09:20石.
09:21Go.
09:22a bunch of eggs.
09:25We're right here in this business.
09:27We have a big audience.
09:29This is the whole program.
09:32Happy May.
09:33A hug.
09:39Great to have you guys in this group.
09:40Remember, it's January,
09:42the last year on Saturday.
09:52Toronto has a public transport system, which is the second longest urban network on the
10:05North American continent.
10:35Not far from the city are the Toronto Islands, an archipelago of small islands accessible
10:48by ferry, comparable to our river shuttles.
10:52Their location protects the port of Toronto.
11:05Beyond the area of the Toronto Islands airport, car use is prohibited, making it the largest
11:32urban area without cars in North America.
11:46A small residential community has sprung up, and walks in this area have become a popular
11:51destination as the amusement park on the islands.
12:12Besides being a haven of peace, the islands offer one of the best views of the city of
12:17Toronto.
12:38The View of Toronto
12:41The View of Toronto
12:50Port York is a historic military forest.
13:05Fort York is a historic military fort whose construction located west of
13:10downtown Toronto was ordered by Colonel John Graves Simcoe, lieutenant governor
13:15of the British province of Upper Canada. He chose this site to establish a naval
13:21base and control Lake Ontario due to a possible war with the United States.
13:29He also moved the provincial capital to Toronto from the border and vulnerable
13:34town of Niagara. Toronto, he later renamed York.
13:45The first garrison arrived in 1793 while the first barracks and brick were built in 1815.
14:04Today, Fort York is a museum where the barracks serve as fingerprints of history, restored
14:15as at the time, and to discover the lifestyle of these settlers who came to defend Canada.
14:21Fort York and the last three-step work is no longer, the three-step work has been
14:28located at the city of New York City.
14:31About 10 years and decades, it was actually an enormous explosion of the village of New York City.
14:34Fort York City is in 1825.
14:37Fort York City is still in 1825.
14:40Fort York City is in 1823.
14:42Fort York City station is about 702 it is about 866.
14:45I don't know.
15:15Rooms are also dedicated to the turbulent military past of Ontario.
15:45When we live in a city, I tell the young men and women, we have, no matter what nation
16:05they come from, we have a responsibility to, we get educated by the white man, but we need
16:13to have our own education.
16:16We have to keep our culture alive, and that's what we're doing.
16:21And I'm a living example.
16:23I live my culture the best I can, and some Native people think they're hard done by it
16:35because they're Native people, sorry for themselves.
16:37I tell them, don't think that way, be proud.
16:41We have two cultures.
16:43We have the culture of the dominant society, and it's very dominant.
16:48And we're a part of it, whether we like it or not, we're a part of it.
16:52The museum houses galleries featuring traditional items and weapons of the time.
17:11If you don't know your culture, you don't know who you are.
17:37I know who I am.
17:39If you don't know your ancestors, then you don't know who you are.
17:43I know who my ancestors are.
17:46And we're like a family.
17:48When I go there, the young people there, when I go to support my nephew in the program,
17:54they see that, and they call me uncle or mushu.
17:58Mushu means grandfather.
18:00And my name, I've earned the name of the champion and said, great-grandfather, a sin.
18:08A sin means rock, means stone.
18:12And rock, my belief is as solid as a rock.
18:15Today is the support of the city of Toronto, but also friends of Fort York and other community members
18:26that make this a living history museum.
18:28Music
18:30Music
18:32Music
18:34Music
18:36Music
18:38Music
18:40Music
18:44Music
18:46Music
18:48Music
18:50Music
18:52Music
18:54Music
19:22Music
19:24Music
19:53Music
19:57Music
20:23Music
20:24Music
20:29Music
20:33Music
20:35Music
20:39As with adults, cardio is important, and warming up begins the same way.
21:09Okichita, it was kind of a gift that was brought towards me from the elders in our community.
21:31As a martial artist for over 40 years, I was approached by the elders to say, we need
21:37to have our own system taught to our community and to share our story.
21:40So I was actually pushed by the elders to be able to deliver this to our community and
21:45beyond.
21:46So I was actually empowered by our native leaders to be able to move forward on this.
21:50So it wasn't just me, it was our community that came together and also the guidance of
21:54our elders.
21:55As our elders say, we want to become warriors of peace.
21:58It's very, very important that we embrace the philosophy of peacefulness, but also have
22:02that application of courage as well.
22:05So if we look at Okichita, the philosophy behind Okichita is something like this, make
22:09my enemy strong, courageous, and brave, for if I defeat him, I will not be ashamed.
22:14So we want people to learn how we have our indomitable strength and power, and also share
22:19our culture with them as well.
22:21So if you did Japanese martial arts, you would learn Japanese culture.
22:25You did Chinese martial arts, you'd learn Chinese culture.
22:27When you do Okichita, you learn our Kree culture.
22:30And it's very, very important because we believe that we're inherently responsible
22:34for Mother Earth, and we have a great connection to the Great Spirit.
22:37We want to share that with someone.
22:39And it's very, very important that we share our stories so we don't lose our history.
22:42We're very quiet.
22:43We're very quiet.
22:44Seek up to your target.
22:45Very quiet.
22:46We bring the legs.
22:47We're first.
22:48We're first.
22:50We're first.
22:52We're first.
22:53We're first.
23:41Children are as attentive as adults when Master Lapine provides technical explanations.
23:46And they seem more relaxed than adults if they remain highly concentrated.
24:06Even the children's classes are mixed.
24:13One of the challenges that we've had
24:18with Okichita and our history as Indians in North America is that our translation of history
24:25has always been through oral translation.
24:32So we've always been able to speak about the techniques and show the techniques, but we've
24:37never had a formal right language.
24:40We've never had a formal writing system.
24:43We're in a society now where we have a variety of different media means and applications
24:47that we can actually record and document our system.
24:49And what we're looking for now is to be able to document and library and categorize our
24:54martial art in a structure that we can actually record and document our system.
24:59And what we're looking for now is to be able to document and library and categorize our martial
25:08art in a structure that we can share with the rest of the world.
25:11We always talk about the Indian way of sharing our story and our experiences and our beliefs.
25:16We believe that we are now moving into that realm now where we can actually use media to
25:20actually capture Okichita and share it with the rest of the world.
25:24That's what our community really wants to do and that's what our elders want us to do as well.
25:28And we will do that.
25:50Let's see.
26:17Children have acquired great discipline over time with Master Lapine and are still amazed
26:24by the exercises done by adults.
26:47Here, we do not
27:17distinguish between men and women because in combat, you cannot choose the sex of your
27:22opponent.
27:24This allows a large variety of fighters during training and belt passages.
27:30On the other hand, there is no competition for this martial art which, despite its many
27:35blends of combat sports, resembles a self-defense art.
27:58There are two combat sports in addition to the Cree style, that is found in Okichita,
28:03Judo and Taekwondo.
28:28At the end of each training, everyone gives a hand to the
28:34team.
28:35It's a great day.
28:36Let's pack it up.
28:37Let's go give the folks a heads.
28:38Thank you for having me.
28:39At the end of each training, everyone gives a hand to the team.
28:44in tidying up the room, a very important team spirit to Master Lapine.
29:07to the team.
29:12to the team.
29:20to the team.
29:25This is a good place.
29:27Yeah.
29:29Yeah.
29:31Oh, thank you.
29:33No matter.
29:35I'm not going to be here.
29:37I'm not going to be here.
29:39I'm not going to be here.
29:41I'm going to be here.
29:43I'm going to be here.
29:45Oh, together.
29:47No problem.
29:49No problem.
29:51No problem.
30:53Lake Ontario has an amazing view when joining the Niagara River with its famous waterfalls.
31:03Despite a variety of activities to do in the city of Niagara Falls, only the falls are
31:07known worldwide.
31:17The three falls are located at the U.S.-Canadian border and are 13 stories high.
31:22Although they are not very high, they are very impressive in their speed as they pour more
31:27than 6.8 million litres of water per second.
31:40The falls are also a huge source of hydroelectric power, while preservation remains a real ecological
31:46challenge.
32:11This natural wonder has been an ideal place for tourists for over a century.
32:57Another National Historic
33:27site of Upper Canada is Fort George. It was in the Victorian town of Niagara-on-the-Lake,
33:33formerly Newark, where you can discover and visit this fort which served as a military
33:38post in the battle against the United States during the War of 1812.
33:48So this ritual, what I'm doing right now, this is a ritual and that's a very important
33:54instrument. We call it smudging, but the proper name is ritual purification. What I'm doing
34:02is cleaning myself to step into the circle. Everything that we do, I serve. So when I
34:10do it, and when I work with the little people, my grandchildren, great-grandchildren, I teach
34:18you clean your mouth so you can say good things. You clean your ears so you can hear good things.
34:26You clean your eyes so you can see good things. And most of all, you clean your spirit so you
34:32can feel good things. And we do this and anything we are going to do of importance, ceremonies,
34:40or anything we're going to do before we go into martial arts, before we do anything, we do this ritual.
34:48This is very special. You notice that it's braided, it's braided. And when I don't have my bonnet on,
34:58I have my braid. And the braid represents our Mother Earth's hair. Sweetgrass is our Mother Earth's hair.
35:07And respect for women and for the culture, we braid her hair. And we braid the sweetgrass,
35:17because this is Mother Earth's hair.
35:20See, they have the little windows locked on, so they get light in there, but also the soldiers
35:30can put their guns through them.
35:32Yeah.
35:33Yeah.
35:34Twoctor.
36:02In 1796, the construction of the fort began, and even today you can see the fort surrounded
36:17by its stockade planted above the curtain of earth that connected two of the six stone
36:22bastions of the fort.
36:24It is called a prayer pipe.
36:33And a lot of times, a lot of non-Native people, they think that they've seen too many John
36:40Wayne movies and they call it a peace pipe.
36:43There's no such thing as a peace pipe.
36:45It's a prayer pipe, prayer pipe, and we pray for peace, we pray even when we use it, go
36:52into war.
36:53We pray.
36:54It's not a peace pipe.
36:55It's a prayer pipe.
36:57In many ways, it's our Bible, we consider this is our Bible.
37:04And as my nephew mentioned about the sweat lodge, the Purification Lodge Ceremony is our synagogue,
37:13our church, our cathedral.
37:15It's so natural to sit on Mother Earth and we pray.
37:20And we heat out grandfathered rocks and then we put water on them and we clean ourselves
37:27from the breath of the rocks.
37:29And we pray for the streets.
37:30Be careful.
37:32I have to go outside.
37:33That's what you're going to do, thank you.
37:35I'm Jok escreve you in the Grace Center.
37:36I said a little bit of work.
37:38I was going to take it all together.
37:39I said we are a little bit of work.
37:41I went to a hallmark and sign a little bit of work and says it would go out.
37:42I've been going to work here.
37:43I'm going to be a little bit of work.
37:44I managed to have a small bit of work.
37:45And I said, I'm going to be a little bit of work.
37:46So, I think we do this, I'm going to work on them.
37:47I realized some of theí, we've just got a little bit of work.
37:50Toronto is like many other U.S. cities
38:20with large skyscrapers.
38:21It is a real industrial center, important commercially and financially, and produces
38:27more than half of the manufactured goods from Canada.
38:31Its economic dynamism attracts all kinds of industries such as media, advertising and
38:37fashion, but also service companies such as insurance, banks or health-related organizations.
38:50At nightfall, the second life begins for the people of Toronto.
39:05It is not uncommon to see them doing an activity after dinner.
39:09Whether it is indoor or outdoors, people like to enjoy this diverse city.
39:16So it is the success of the community.
39:27So it is an investment in Canada, which is a very proud.
39:31So we are we need to support the city of Canada.
40:08The bars and restaurants of Toronto are just as cosmopolitan as the city.
40:26It includes all the cuisines of the world.
40:38In order to teach Okichi taught to as many as possible, Master Lapine also lectures in other places,
41:05as here in the Riverdale neighborhood, which became, over time, one of the new Chinese neighborhoods in the city.
41:21Master Lapine carries on traditions with fun warm-ups to the sound of drums and Native American chants.
41:27Heels up.
41:36You're going to hit one quad harder than the other.
41:39Cross the step.
41:39Three weapons are used mainly in learning the Okichi taught,
41:55whose Notini, Tawan mystic is the war club, and Mokoman, the Native American knife, as seen here.
42:16Okay.
42:18Okay.
42:19Okay.
42:20All right.
42:21Okay.
42:22All right.
42:23Here.
42:24Here.
42:25Here.
42:26Here.
42:33Here.
42:35Here.
42:36Fine, we'll cross.
42:40Can we see?
42:41Here.
42:43Yes.
42:44Yes.
42:45Yes.
42:46Yes.
42:47Yes.
42:48Yes.
42:49Yes.
42:50Yes.
42:51Yes.
42:52If the first usage of the knife was for hunting or camping, it soon became useful for hand-to-hand
42:59combat during the wars.
43:22Our martial art is non-competitive.
43:46We believe that competition is actually weakening.
43:49The other application of Okichita, the techniques are very, very aggressive and very hard as far as physical force that's executed.
43:57So they're very committed and we don't limit ourselves by rules and applications because we believe in warfare or any type of combat engagement.
44:05It's about self-preservation.
44:08So the techniques in Okichita are very aggressive and they're techniques to finish out your opponent.
44:13We deliver it through four applications. The east, the south, the north and the western direction.
44:20So we identify our challenge, embrace with courage, finish out as soon as possible and move on to our next adversary or challenge.
44:27And those happen very, very quickly in Okichita.
44:30Ok, so we're just going to go through elimination. So if anyone loses that, just go back to the circle.
44:46We can come back in again. Ok?
44:49Ready? One, two, three.
44:54It's still on, it's still on, it's still on.
44:59You can win from the ground.
45:03Good.
45:05One way to see if the teachings were assimilated after learning is the game of the knife fight.
45:20Hold up.
45:22Next one in.
45:24One, two, three.
45:28The rule is simple. The first one who is touched by the knife blade loses, and the winner remains in play until another one wins.
45:47Again, we see that the gender of the student does not come into consideration for the choice of opponent. Only the technique counts.
46:16The third weapon mainly used in Okichita is the chikiikunis, the Native American tomahawk.
46:45In Okichita, what we embrace is that we do have a bit of a formal belt system, but it's very loosely applied.
46:51And what I mean by this is we look for the commitment of the warrior to be able to embrace the philosophy and the physical attributes of Okichita.
46:58So it takes quite a long time for someone to reach a level of, say, black.
47:02We look at black, that colour, as the great mystery.
47:04We believe that when we move into black, it's very, very difficult and you learn new things.
47:09The application to move to red belt is basically that somebody is dealing with struggle continuously to make themselves a great warrior of peace.
47:18Until they move into the southern doorway, they start in the eastern doorway, they're brand new.
47:22They move to the southern doorway, they start embracing struggle and challenge and difficulty.
47:26And when they move to the northern doorway, they start learning the gifts of the warrior.
47:29And they're able to share those experiences with other people in their community.
47:32When we see them move to the northern doorway, then they move to the belt of red.
47:36That means they embrace that philosophy.
47:38And then eventually they move to the western doorway to show that there are embracing of worthy men.
47:43They're being what we call Nehe'awak.
47:45In the Cree way, that means a true warrior.
48:06As warriors of peace, it's very, very important that we understand the beauty around us.
48:31And when we have our prayers, we pray to the great spirit, to our brother, our eagle staff, and things of that nature.
48:37But it's very simple.
48:38We're only humans and he has to have pity on us.
48:41But we're trying to make ourselves better people every day.
48:43And by being a warrior of peace, we give back to the community.
48:46The first person I want to honor today is David.
48:52Master Lapine burns sage before presenting the colored belts to his students.
49:00He may change color if he can handle the seven-round sweat.
49:05See what happens.
49:07Okay, and the other person on the right hand.
49:09He's, uh, you know, what's great about him.
49:22He allows to embrace our teachings of our past to make our nation stronger for the future.
49:26As we move to the southern doorway.
49:28The doorway of struggle.
49:29The doorway of challenge.
49:30A lot of people's difficulty with the colony.
49:32The colony is your teacher's great spirit to ensure that we're going to the doorway.
49:35The doorway of the Gailwack.
49:37The doorway of the great warriors.
49:38The warriors of crazy horse.
49:40Big bears.
49:41Sitting home.
49:42As we move to the doorway, they help each other.
49:43The way of the worthy ones.
49:45Generations before us.
49:47And not dressed for anyone.
49:48Grace, we're going to show up.
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