Ancient North American Animal Styles

Oki All… Thought I’d give an update, since I hadn’t in a few days. I’d really like to hear more from other todai, by the way, what you’re working on, progressions and such, even the seemingly minor achievements. Feels a bit awkward posting so frequently here, when few others are doing so, and I hope it’s not getting tedious. But I find reporting in the blog to be a good tool for maintaining momentum and connection, and the dialogs that sometimes come from it as inspirational in ways that aren’t always predictable. Perhaps this is especially a benefit for an online member of the kwoon. I’d probably be less motivated to post if I was working with the Chicago group physically

Anyway… My parents drove up to visit from Oregon a few days ago. Haven’t seen them in over a year, so I took a few days leave from work to spend time with them. Today, we traveled to Nanton, Alberta, which is well-known for its many antique stores. My mom, wife, and daughter went shopping. Meanwhile, I brought my dad and son-in-law out to climb sandstone cliffs in a nearby canyon, and show them some very old pictographs hidden under a couple of the more sheltered outcrops. I wanted to post an image of one of these panels here. What you are seeing in this image are very ancient depictions of Blackfoot warriors. The round bodies are what we call 'ssokowo'taan' (heavy-shields), the pre-horse style shield that went from shoulder to knee and were made from the thickest hide of the buffalo hump. What I want to point out here is that each warrior depicted has a shield design and headdress symbolizing the animal that gave them their fighting power. From right to left there is elk, grizzly, eagle, bison, and rattlesnake. This is not the extent of animal-influence fighting styles that have been known to Blackfoot people, by far. Part of what I am interested in renewing, in my lifetime, and at least with myself (though hopefully influencing others), are martial approaches and techniques learned from local animals. There is an extensive lore about this, which I don’t really have the time at the moment to write in-depth upon here. But I will say that many of the remnants remain still today, in ceremony, song, dance, and medicine. Even some of the core body training is still well-remembered, like running every morning down to the river (even in winter), dunking oneself, then running back up the coulee carrying a heavy rock. It is the martial applications themselves that have been… not really forgotten, but… too long neglected. A lot of the core stuff, I've been told by elders, consists of wrestling techniques. But at this point, I'm not confident that the martial component could be renewed in its old form. The animals are still here though, and I’m certain they could reacquaint me from scratch