Kiai Jutsu:
The Shout Used As A Weapon
By Christopher Caile
A
kiai is a loud shout. It is that essential element
used by the heroes and villains of martial arts movies
to accent their action, something that testifies that
they are not mere boxers or wrestlers but trained
experts in an Asian discipline such as karate or kung
fu. But unfortunately what we hear no longer bears
much combat significance. The true art of the shout,
or kiai jutsu in Japanese, can be an effective tool
of self-defense capable of having physical effects
on an adversary.
The year was 1961. I was in Japan studying karate
with Kancho Mas Oyama, the founder of Kyokushinkai
karate.After practice one evening Oyama and I made
our way along a dirt street on the outskirts of Tokyo.We
were heading toward a Korean restaurant, a favorite
of his where we often ate. It was getting dark and
as we approached the restaurant in our path were several
young men jostling and pushing each other. Suddenly
the group seemed to lurch toward us. Oyama stopped
and then uttered a short, powerful sound, something
between a grunt and a soft shout.The youths froze.All
action stopped, their bodies seemingly frozen, movement
suspended as if energy had been sucked out of their
limbs.
It seemed like an eternity, but it must have been
only a second when the youths regained a little composure
and turned. They met the wall of Oyama's powerful
look, thick eyebrows framing piercing eyes. Immediately
they melted aside, then quickly disappeared down the
street. No doubt Oyama's powerful presence also had
an effect; he was, a powerful looking, tank like man
with a thick neck and massive chest accentuated with
shoulders so wide they seemed out of proportion. Not
a word had been said. "What was that?" I
asked, dumbfounded."Ahh, nothing," Oyama
replied in broken English as he resumed walking toward
the restaurant.
This was my first introduction to the power of kiai.
I had of course seen people kiai in class, we all
did this during exercises, but nothing with the power
and impact that Oyama had emitted. That night I returned
home around 10 pm still thinking about the incident.I
was living with a group of martial artists hosted
in an old Meiji period house atop a hill in a suburb
of Tokyo called Ichigiya. The house was run by Donn
Draeger. Donn was home and I went upstairs to talk.
I described Oyama's kiai to him and we began to talk
about the subject. Donn, it turned out had a powerful
kiai himself and soon we were trading kiais, Donn
coaching me on keeping my air passage straight and
using by lower abdomen. Our alternate "Yaaaahs"
reverberated through the building prompting at least
one "shut up" from a house mate.
Donn also related to me his own personal experience
with a kiai. Donn was a devout student (practitioner
and well known historian) of the martial arts. He
was highly ranked in many disciplines including judo,
the jo and katori shinto ryu kenjutsu, a classical
school of swordsmanship with probably the oldest historical
tradition in Japan, dating from the 1400's. He had
trained in this kenjutsu for many years where two
man kata were theprimary means of teaching. There
was one high level kata that he did not understand,
however, in which the two swordsmen at one point were
too far apart to have any contact. Nevertheless he
practiced as prescribed until one day he felt compelled
to ask his teacher the meaning of this odd long distance.
After class he approached his teacher, and although
a student is not supposed to question, Donn told the
teacher he didn't understand what was happening. The
teacher replied, "Get real swords." They
began the kata and when that point of distance was
reached the teacher emitted a thundering shout, at
which point Donn said he was literally thrown backward
onto his back. As Donn looked up the teacher said,
"that part for 'ki" (vital energy believed
to run in the body that can be stored and used for
martial purposes).
How true or authentic the story was, I will never
know. But, being 19 and listening starry-eyed to the
story of such an authority and skilled exponent, at
the time I believed every word. In the years since
I have tried to make sense of the kiai. Some believe
it is little more than a loud shout that creates a
startle reflex in those that it is aimed at. Others
believe it is much more. The word "kiai"
itself suggesting many things. The "ki"
in kiai refers to energy, (chi or qi in China), believed
to be an essential force behind health and vitality,
but more so, something able to be nurtured, built
and stored within the body for use. "Ai"
means to meet, harmonize, join or fuse.Thus by this
definition kiai is more than an explosive voice sound;
it represents the projection of sound fused with energy
or spirit that blends with the energy or spirit of
the opponent, thus having an effect. When the two
syllables are reversed you get another related martial
arts term, "aiki", which means the meeting
or harmonizing of energy (ki) central to aikido and
aikijutsu.Kiai refers to spirit or vital body energy
that interacts without physical contact, while "aiki"
refers more to the physical energy of movement. The
two are very much related.
One famous martial arts teacher who seemed to demonstrate
the power of kiai repeatedly was Morihei Ueshiba,
the founder of aikido.In one video which shows him
doing techniques in the latter part of his life, there
is a sequence in which an attacker is literally blown
back off his feet by a kiai uttered by Ueshiba. Is
this a demonstration of real power or just the reaction
of an apprehensive student all too willing to follow
his teacher's lead? Actually, I believe it is the
former. My aikido teacher, Roy Suenaka Sensei, who
studied with Ueshiba in Tokyo, recounted to me an
experience that happened around 1961.
"There were a lot of times that Ueshiba would
use me as uke (attacker) and practically every time
I attacked he would kiai, and I would become airborne.
One day during one of his lectures he started to talk
about ki and how it could be extended outward through
an object." Ueshiba was holding a chop stick
and called Suenaka up to be his uke (partner). "I
didn't know what he was going to do. He asked me to
attack and suddenly I went flying. The next thing
I knew I was on my back stunned with no idea what
had happened. When I went back to sit down I asked
another student about what Ueshiba had done. Someone
said I had been hit on the forehead by the chopstick.
When I looked later, sure enough, there on the top
of my forehead was a little red indentation."
In his famous book "The Fighting Arts of Japan,"
E. J. Harrison refers to one incident which tends
to confirm the mystical power generated by the kiai.Harrison
tells the story of Yagyu Matajuro, the son of a well
known sword master and tutor to the Shoguns (military
rulers) whose misconduct resulted in his disinheritance
by his father.Determined to make amends, the son over
several years studied the sword diligently with a
number of masters before returning home to Edo (now
Tokyo) to plead through an intermediary, who was a
close friend of his father, for reconciliation.Matajoro,
seeking to demonstrate his skill, asked for an opponent,
but since none was immediately available said he would
instead demonstrate his kiai. Matajuro looked into
the garden and saw a few sparrows perched on a branch
of a pine tree. Fixing his gaze on them he uttered
his kiai (shout) and the birds fell to the ground
senseless.When Matajuro removed his attention from
the birds they soon regained consciousness and flew
away. The demonstration had the desired effect, and
the intermediary was able to achieve reconciliation
between father and son, who went on to inherit his
father's system.Harrison notes that this feat was
known in Japanese sword schools as "toate-no-jutsu,"
or "the art of striking from a distance."
In the past the art of kiai, or kiai jutsu, was a
highly esoteric and secret discipline often taught
to professional warriors, or senior students of martial
arts. Donn Draeger told me, however, that he felt
that over the last century a lot of esoteric knowledge
as well as technique was lost as martial arts became
popularized, practiced by non-warriors, and turned
from warrior arts to philosophical disciplines of
the masses. The art of kiai suffered this fate as
well.Now, if the art is taught at all, it is taught
only to senior students in a few martial disciplines.
Still, virtually all martial arts practice the kiai
in some basic, simplified form. They are often part
of basic practice. In karate a kiai often accompanies
the practice of basic techniques, and is used in self-defense
and freefighting.
In aikido, aikijujutsu and jujutsu the kiai is used
to startle the attacker, especially if the attack
is a grab, so as to momentarily distract the attacker
from his original intent and allow the defender more
easily to start a defensive technique.
A future article on kiai jutsu will discuss a number
of theories on the operational principles of kiai
jutsu.
About The Author:
Christopher Caile, the founder and Editor-in-Chief
of FightingArts.com, is a historian, writer and researcher
on the martial arts and Japanese culture. A martial
artist for over 40 years he holds a 6th degree black
belt in karate and is experienced in judo, aikido,
daito-ryu, itto-ryu, boxing, and several Chinese arts.
He is also a teacher of qi gong.
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