The Importance of Kiai

No I am not talking about the high pitch scream or useless non-sense being done at the modern American karate tournaments and let me tell you I have heard some strange ones, or the little girl that uses “AAaaaaaaaa” and holds it for 60 seconds, no not what I mean at all.

A kiai is a Japanese term that is a combination or compound of two kanji, namely "ki" meaning mind, will, or spirit and "ai" being the contraction of the verb awasu, signifying "to unite". Students of traditional martial arts such as karate, kendo or judo (or related arts such as taiko drumming) use kiai to focus energy when executing a technique. It is a short yell that some martial artists shout before or during a fight or technique. In koryu bujutsu, it is usually explained as being linked to the inner amassing of energy released in a single explosive focus of will.



In karate kata, a kiai point is utilized in at least two places throughout each kata; there is a small number of kata that utilize more.

Throughout the history of the martial arts there have been numerous legends regarding the effectiveness of the Kiai. Two of my favorite’s center around the founder of Japanese Gojuryu Karate-do and the Goju-Kai; Gogen Yamaguchi


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Yamaguchi Gogen Sensei 1985



The first one center’s around Yamaguchi Sensei involvement in WWII. It has been said that the Japanese government had sent Yamaguchi to Manchuria on secret business, and whilst conducting certain negotiations he was captured by forces of the Kuomintang (The Chinese National Peoples Party) government.

They shipped him off to a labor camp where he was treated very badly and suffered great hardship and deprivation. Although a model prisoner who did everything he was told, Yamaguchi's captors were wary of him. There was something in his demeanor, the way he walked proudly and the way other prisoners held him in such high regard which caused the guards to be almost afraid of him. The normal day's routine for prisoners was to eat whatever was available, which was never enough, and then lounge about either sleeping or gossiping. But Yamaguchi did not behave as the other prisoners. When he was allowed out of his cell, he would run around the exercise area and practice all manner of kicks and punches hour after hour. In his cell he would sit and meditate for long periods. Yamaguchi refused to bow down and be broken by the conditions of his imprisonment.

The guards began to see this proud Japanese as something of a superhuman being or a wizard. He always looked fit and healthy unlike the other prisoners, and yet he ate the same starvation diet. They began to think of him as a demon and their fear grew. News soon reached the camps commandant's office of this strange prisoner. On further investigation it was discovered who he was and orders were issued that at all costs he must be broken, so that he would lose face before the other prisoners. Yamaguchi was placed in solitary confinement and his rations would have barely kept a child alive. For twenty hours a day he sat in his cell in total darkness. The cell was so small that when he sat cross legged his knees touched the wall. Daily beatings by the guards still failed to affect him or break his spirit. Each day he would practice his special breathing exercises and then put himself into a trance like state so that he felt neither pain nor hunger. The prison officials could not believe that one man could withstand such harsh treatment and still remain fit and unbroken. By now rumor was rife around the camp about the demon man whose very name seemed to frighten the guard's when it was whispered by the prisoners.

The commandant finally ordered his men to go capture a tiger, once they did, they caged it and starved it for a week, then they began poking it until it was crazed. They then dragged Yamaguchi out of his cell and walked him across the compound to the cage containing the half-starved tiger. Laughing, the guards pushed him into the cage and ordered the whole camp to watch the Japanese man be eaten alive. As Yamaguchi entered the cage, a strange look came into his eyes. He adopted a karate stance and with an ear piercing yell he attacked the tiger. The animal was stunned by the shout, so allowing time enough for Yamaguchi to kick it in the ear and then jump on its back and apply a strangulation technique from behind. In the process he let out another screeching yell right into the tigers ear and then pulled back on his arms, using every bit of strength in his body. Moments later the tiger slumped to the cage floor, dead. The guards looked terrified and ran off, leaving Yamaguchi in the cage overnight with the dead tiger.

The next morning he was let out of the cell and allowed to rejoin the other prisoners. Less than two weeks later he was exchanged with another political prisoner, thus facilitating his release. The guards at the camp breathed a sigh of relief when this demon man left the camp. Some say that this is the reason Yamaguchi sensei was referred to as “The Cat” later in life.

The second story was related to me that several of the neighbors around the Goju-Kai Honbu Dojo (The Gojukan) were becoming worried because they kept finding dead birds around the dojo. They expressed their concerns to Yamaguchi Sensei who reportedly stated he did not know of any reason for the birds to be dying. A few days later Yamaguchi Sensei was doing his morning training and running kata, when an older lady came to the dojo and asked Yamaguchi Sensei to stop yelling as he was killing the birds, Yamaguchi Sensei was surprised by her comments and asked her to explain what she meant. The older lady ask Sensei to come outside where she saw a bird sitting in a tree and asked him to perform the yell as he had done before, which he did. As he let loose his kiai, the bird fell out of the tree and fell to the ground.

Now I am not sure how true these stories really are but many karate-ka over the years have commented on how fierce a kiai Yamaguchi Sensei had.

So why is a kiai important you asked, well here are 5 things a Kiai is used for;

1. A psychological effect on your enemy.
   
   
2. A psychological effect on yourself, so-called "amping yourself up".
   
   
3. To provide an escape route for exhalation of air.
   
   
4. To keep air pressure in your body balanced (holding your breath while taking impact from a kick, punch or the ground can cause injury).
   
   
5. To rapidly contract the transverse abdominal and other core muscles, to provide support for striking techniques and protection to the
   internal organs.

So see that silly little yell has some uses after all. One of the issues I have is getting students to kiai, they think it is silly or sounds funny. So that is why I decided to focus on this topic today, maybe it is silly or does sound funny to some, but to me, I think it is another tool in my arsenal to use when my life depends on it, so why souldn’t I practice it? I do and have for 34 years and will continue to do so. Why? Because I have utilized kiai in the street, in combat and it has saved my butt.

So just in case the stories of Yamaguchi sensei are true, I will keep trying my hardest to kill that darn bird that keeps pooping on my car with my kiai and if he does fall over dead, then I might venture on to trying to scare a tiger!