When I started training it was some thing like this: HAAAAR!!!! But now it sound like this: (winding up) AHHH... (letting it rip) SAAAAAA!!!! Or when I'm really pumped: IIIISSSSSSSSSS.. SAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! So in my dojo you'll hear some idiot going: Ahhh SAAAH... Ahhh SAAAH Ahhh SAAAH (like the pony tail dude in karate kid III) and then IIIISSSSSSSSSSS SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! I made a baby in the audience cry once whilst doing heian yodan. What does your Kiai sound like?
Sort of like a long scream, but then lower: HHRRAAAAAAAAAAHHH! When we do kata's it's like HHRRAAAAAIIIIII! and HRHOOOOOOHHHH!
Actually there's this guy from our "sister" dojo who comes over to our classes sometimes and when he does his kata and comes to a kiai point he screams: SEEEEEEEEAAAATTT!!!!!! (just like how you'd say the thing your sitting on right now) It takes all my strength and will power to hold back my snickering and school girlish giggles.
Some peeps just literally scream "Kiaaai!". In my opinion, the word kiai as a kiai in itself isn't really handy if you want to use your lungs at their best.
Was talking about semphoon not you MuayKiDo in the last post. But yeah same at my dojo we're first taught to shout "Kiai" which means shout in japanese anyway. Felt unnatural so I dropped it.
Some people at my club do that as well. Kiai is the name of the sound - not the actual sound you make. Like whistling. The name of the sound is 'whistle'. If you are asked to whistle, you make a whistling sound, you don't say "Whistle". Mine is more like a "EEEEEEEEEEEE" Cheers.
When doing aikido kata's with buki (weapons) we use a different kiai for the 'finishing strike'. So we build up our attack with shorter kiais (like the HRAAAI and HROOOH ones and end with one, long personal kiai. I think this last one is made extra powerfull to enable you to pierce your uke's armour. I was following some TKD classes at my old dojo and one guy had to make a kiai with a simlar purpose, to end his pomse (or whatever the Korean word for kata is). It sounded more like he was throwing up to me! It was soooo funny, the younger students were mocking him, punching themselves in their stomach and then making a similair kiai. Honestly, his kiai DID sound like he was being punched in the stomach! Sumthing like: 'Uuaaalghh'.
People confuse the sound of a Kiai with a Kiai. The sound is the result of the Kiai; it means spirit shout, Ki-ai. It should definitely be from the Hara, I hear all kinds of people making sounds from their throat, I have been told that this is incorrect and detrimental to it’s effectiveness.
Word. My sensei teaches us to growl a little, and build up your kiai from your hara. My Hrrrraaaaaaaahhhh kiai enables this build up, so I am sticking with it. It feels natural, not forced and seems to do what it is supposed to do.
I use different sounds for different situations. Soemtimes it sounds like ... SEEAH sometimes: EEESHA
Mine's kind of like "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIII!" I used to vocalise (I won't use the term "sing") for a really bad death metal band so I've got a pretty good roar on me. When we do linework at the dojo, I literally drown the rest of the class out with my kiai. Other than that, I like "Hadouken" when sparring my instructor - he laughs so much I manage to get a couple of hits in
The sound of kiai Hmm .. this is wicked thread... Mine would sound something like: "hjAAARR" or " HMMMRRr" and the long ones in katas sound like "aaaaaaAAAARRRRrrrrr" I hate when my students say "kiiiiiaaaaaiiii" .. It's brakes the kime (breathing) with double sound. But one of the best kata performer in our club is a Girl wich screams "aaaiiiiiib" ... realy weak even though here techiniques are strong. Not a fearsome sound.
