*************************************************************************** Kiai *************************************************************************** CONTENTS ========= 1. Thoughts on Kiai 2. How to Kiai *************************************************************************** 1. Thoughts on kiai =================== Q (snip...) Q I've heard and used the term "kiai" thinking it meant "harmonizing or Q coordinating ki", that it is most often thought of as a shout, but that Q it can be silent as well. I'm curious to others' views. Q (snip...) Q Any thoughts on kiai? Q Gary Lee Porter ------------------------------------------------------------ From: Fred Rachford ------------------------------------------------------- Our dojo tends to be quiet and vocal kiai's are informally frowned upon. Being incorrigible, I often quietly (& sometimes not so quietly) kiai especially when I need extra focus in my attack as uke. Sometimes, if I'm part of a rondouri, I can get the others vocalizing as well & people wonder what's happening down on our end of the mat. The kiai makes things snappier and more committed. At other times, in one of my not infrequent flaky moods, I tend to involuntarily make other sounds as well; i.e.. whooshes, crashes, airplane dive sounds, sounds borrowed from Sat. morning cartoons, etc. As nage you can rationalize this as a mental temi. ;-) From: Chuck Gordon -------------------------------------- Sensei always taught us that kiai meant SPIRIT!!!! The characters can be interpreted as spirit (intent/energy/life/etc) harmonizing, but he said the word was not so much blending spirit as overwhelming uke's "ki" with yours. Also, we learned that kiai is not always vocalized (as many others have aptly stated), but if the projection is highly charged, then a vocalization will likely accompany the action. We teach that there is no aiki without kiai and in order to apply aiki technique correctly, tori (nage/shite) must enfold uke in kiai and then uke is drawn into the aiki situation as if into a vaccuum. That's the short form and leaves much to be desired in the re-reading, but to elaborate would take hours, I fear. However, he taught us that by learning the sound of you kiai, you can begin learning to manifest the SPIRIT! aspect and encouraged us to work with kiai, using the "three shouts" concept from Go Rin No Sho. F.J. Lovret of the Yamate Ryu has written extensively on the subject and has produced some though-provoking pieces. I think I have a couple around here somewhere if you're interested in his ideas. In "Fighting Spirit of Japan," Harrison discusses kiai-jutsu (very interesting, especially since the work was written well before today's more widespread interest in MA. As for actual sounds, I've heard all kinds, from "KWATZ!" (really, one guy I know uses that), to (my preference) "EI!" which is a nice round long "A" sound. We tend to use two very different kiai sounds for different things, however. For atemi waza, the sound is very crisp and sharp, a window-rattling pulse of sound; but for nage waza or osae waza, it tends to get drawn out and gutteral, more of a growl that rises and falls with tori's envelopment and cutting down of uke. *************************************************************************** 2. How to Kiai =============== Q fomr pam@mail.nerc-nutis.ac.uk Q --------------------------------- Q Has anyone any advice on 'how to kiai'? I know the sound should come from Q deep in your centre but I'm never sure what I am trying to vocalise. Some Q people Q seem to 'roar' wordlessly, we've one person who screams 'paaaiiiiinnnttt' Q (although it could be 'pain' I'm usually too worried about surviving to Q be sure). Mine (when it happens) seems to be 'Hiii-eee' when it works Q and a 'h -ugggh' most of the rest of the time! Q From: "J.P. DIESCH" -------------------------------------------------------- My instructor si currently in the process of trying to STOP us making all these noises.... at times, especially when doing something REALLY complicated, our dojo sounds like a zoo halkf and hour before feeding time... it gets silly at times! Having said that, the kiai'ing is absolutly terrible! During torifune you can only hear 2, or 3 voices... sensei's and the 2 senior students. The only time _I_ have had any success in making the WHOLE class Kiai enthusiatically was when I led the warm-up whilst Sensei was chatting to someone outside the dojo... kept telling them to do it louder, to make sensei hear.... he would only complain I wasnt showing torifune properly if he couldnt hear the kiai!!! From: John Murray ----------------------------------------- A gentleman at the local dojo had a kiai that sounded a lot like "Oops!" until the sensei at a seminar suggested that he find a different kiai so sensei isn't always looking around to see who just got clobbered :-) Now he sounds like, "Soup!" ;-) From: This space intentionally left blank ----------------------------------------------------------- I've heard it most often as "Hi" or "Hi Ya" From: "Julian M. Frost" ----------------------------------------------------------- I wonder... When Kanetsuka Sensei Kiais, does he still tell everybody to "Shit"?! From: Kevin Jones ----------------------------------------------------------- An interesting experiment is to try various sounds and see which help and which hinder. In Shin-shin Toitsu-do, we have the notion of a ki test which we use to judge whether a person is unified or not. What we see is that if one makes a "hard" or "closed" sound (like "haa" or "uggh") then the result is usually a weaker test. If you make a "resonant" or "open" sound (like "yeii") then the test is usually stronger. Further, if you place a hand on 1) the upper chest 2) the lower abdomen when a person is trying to do kiai, you can feel where the major focus of the "shout" is. If it's in the chest then that is likely to increase tension and weaken the exercise; if in the abdomen, then you get a better result. So, I'd recommend "yeii" (sort of yee-ay-ee). A good exercise to check that you are making kiai and not just shouting is to make 4 times, one long, two short, one long, continuously (yee-ay-ee yey-yey yee-ay-ee) - if all have equal power and resonance then your probably in good shape :-). From: David Suarez de Lis ----------------------------------------------- Well, looking at the posts here, I can see there are people who uses kiai like the sounds of kotodama, adapting the frecuency, duration and aperture if they are doing nage waza or ... I'm trying to use two different sounds for my kiai: one when I am entering (irimi) eg. shomen (hei!): and another when I am 'disentering', eg. shomen but backstep (oi!) (eg. with bokken). I usually do them loudly (because the neibourghs :), trying to drop them from my hara. Yes, in karate the kiai is often used, but many people launch a scream instead a shout ;) (well, another way to knock out aite :) But the main kiai I use is a "haaaa!" when I exhale (?), using my abdominale breathing (like ki breathing), altho I'm trying to change to those "hei,oi" I said before. I'd like to use kotodama in my training, but know the minimal about it (and I cannot say "ooooooo" when tenkan, I miss my center and fre+ +cuently fall :) From: Larry Novick ---------------------------------- In the old days, Tohei taught Kiai as - Yay-ee-Yee, I believe. All in one....motion. From: GUSTAVO FARIA DA SILVA ----------------- ------------------------------------------------- Traditonaly, Ki means energy and Ai union. So, kiai is the of union all kind of our energy. In fact, Ki-ai Do exist. And this is a way to canalize energy trough the voice. In traditional M.A. we techniques of "sound and image" wich associate a moviment to a sound and a mental image. The most commons Ki-ai: 1) ki-ai 2) Ei 3) To 4) Chin 5) Chio 6) Pon-in-tze Of course diferent people have diferents "Kiais". Tim Behne wrote: ------------------ > > Yes. Not on a regular basis, but my Sensai has used kiai during training. He > has a different approach to it. He says that each person has to find their > own kiai within themselves. I'm still not sure what he means by this. Do you, > or anyone else know? > > From: Andrew Francis ----------------------------------- Ki is the reference for "life force" and ai for "yell" or roughly "yell of spirit" Like a singer, you have a unique voice and spirit to express through that voice, be it as a kiai or any other expression you extend. Hope this helps ya. If not, DO NOT kiai in my direction!