Latest / Stories from Väruld / Journal Entry About Chipakana

Transcript

Journal Entry About Chipakana · Stories from Väruld

• 0:02
  Host: You are listening to stories from Väruld.
• 0:05
  Host: Thank you for listening to Stories from Väruld. In this episode, a journal entry about Chipakana.
• 0:15
  Narrator: I had been told that Chipikana was a sport.
• 0:18
  Narrator: I'm no longer certain that is the right word.
• 0:22
  Narrator: The people of Kaidpah call it a contest.
• 0:25
  Narrator: They speak of rankings and victories, and there is money involved, sometimes, when a fighter has found someone willing to sponsor them.
• 0:34
  Narrator: All of this sounds very much like sport.
• 0:37
  Narrator: But then they take you into the mountain.
• 0:41
  Narrator: The fighting circle lies in a cavern above the town, in a natural hollow where the earth has been packed flat and shaped into a shallow ring.
• 0:51
  Narrator: The spectators gather on ledges around it.
• 0:53
  Narrator: They bring lanterns, but otherwise the place is much as the mountain made it.
• 0:58
  Narrator: Two fighters enter the circle, each carrying a long stick.
• 1:03
  Narrator: The rules were explained to me in less time than it takes to sharpen a quill.
• 1:07
  Narrator: Do not fall.
• 1:09
  Narrator: Do not touch the ground outside the circle.
• 1:13
  Narrator: That is essentially Chipakana.
• 1:15
  Narrator: I asked whether striking the other fighter was therefore unnecessary.
• 1:20
  Narrator: The man explaining it to me laughed.
• 1:23
  Narrator: Apparently I had misunderstood everything.
• 1:26
  Narrator: The stick is how you persuade your opponent to make a mistake.
• 1:30
  Narrator: And once I watched them fight, I began to understand.
• 1:34
  Narrator: They strike, certainly, hard enough that I would not volunteer to stand opposite either of them.
• 1:40
  Narrator: But a powerful blow that leaves the attacker poorly balanced is almost useless.
• 1:46
  Narrator: A smaller movement, delivered at precisely the right moment, can end the contest.
• 1:52
  Narrator: A foot moves, a body turns, someone yields to a blow rather than resisting it.
• 1:58
  Narrator: For a moment, nothing appears to have happened.
• 2:02
  Narrator: Then, a heel touches the earth beyond the circle.
• 2:06
  Narrator: It is over.
• 2:07
  Narrator: I have seen sword fights where victory belonged to the strongest arm.
• 2:14
  Narrator: I have seen wrestling where size alone seemed almost sufficient.
• 2:18
  Narrator: Chipakana rewards something else.
• 2:21
  Narrator: The people here might say balance.
• 2:24
  Narrator: They train together.
• 2:26
  Narrator: Chipakana has rankings, it has opponents.
• 2:29
  Narrator: Thank you for listening to Stories from Väruld. In formal contests, the fighters are divided into two groups, they meet, until eventually only two remain.
• 2:37
  Narrator: Yet training does not feel like preparation for defeating one another.
• 2:41
  Narrator: They move together, they practice steps, strikes, and falls.
• 2:46
  Narrator: Their sticks beat rhythms against the stone.
• 2:49
  Narrator: Sometimes they chant quietly as they move.
• 2:52
  Narrator: So where exactly does the opponent begin?
• 2:56
  Narrator: The edge of the circle or the mountain itself?
• 3:00
  Narrator: Before a formal fight, the keepers of the depths bring water from the sacred lakes.
• 3:06
  Narrator: The fighters enter simply dressed, carrying no concealed weapon, no ornament, little that distinguishes wealth from poverty.
• 3:15
  Narrator: Then, two people stand inside a circle.
• 3:19
  Narrator: Everyone else watches, and the mountain surrounds them.
• 3:23
  Narrator: I came intending to record the rules of Chipakana.
• 3:26
  Narrator: I think the rules may be the least interesting thing about it.
• 3:31
  Narrator: Perhaps Chipakana is not about learning how to make another person fall.
• 3:36
  Narrator: Perhaps it is about learning how not to fall yourself.
• 3:49
  Host: Thank you for listening to Stories from Väruld. In the next episode, The Creation of Humans Part 1.