Comments for How to develop a good kiai?

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Jun 15, 2016
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		In reply to Taking care of your voice
by: Kendo-Guide.Com

I lost my voice by shouting in kendo. But the voice always come back.

Does it change the quality of your voice? I don't know. Maybe.

If someone tsuki you directly on your throat by accident, then it might change your voice.

If you think you should not do anything that would hurt your throat, then kendo is not a good choice.
Jun 15, 2016
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Taking care of your voice
by: Anonymous

Hello!

and what about if you are a singer? I mean, does the Kiai harm the voice?(even performing Kiai in the proper way?)

thank you!
Mar 09, 2011
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		thank you for the advice.
by: Anbu bee

I was very confused on what exactly to say. I thought you say Japanese numbers. This makes more sense. Thanks!

Kendo-Guide.Com:  You are welcome. Kiai refers to “yelling” and also an energetic and concentrating state of mind.

Hope this helps.
Dec 24, 2008
Rating
starstarstar 		My thoughts on kiai
by: K.Tran

In my opinion, and it is only an opinion, there is more to kiai than it just being loud.

While it is important to have a basic in kiai, you can have loud kiai, and still not have good kiai.

I learnt this lesson during trainings where I found I wasn't performing good cuts because I didn't feel like I put the weight behind each cut with the spirit I was putting into my kiai.

Spirit is shown by how large a presence you create at the moment of impact. So make your presence felt whenever you kiai.

Even if you start with a quiet kiai (some people are naturally less talkative than others), if you keep putting your spirit and guts into it, it will eventually become nice and strong (loud too, as you can?t put spirit into a quiet kiai very well).

Good luck!

Kendo-Guide.Com: Yes, you are right. Kiai is more than just being loud. It has more in it.

As mentioned in an article, Breathing in Training: How to Breathe in Kendo Training, the better we get, the less we have the "voiced" kiai. Your thought on kiai is for 4th dan or above, I would say.

People are different and I am sure some people can have a good kiai without going through the shouting phase. Generally, we have to go through the phase to get to the real nice kiai.

Mind you, though. I?ve never done any other martial arts but kendo. Thus, my view is from a person who has done only kendo for 28 years (as of 2008). And I am only 5th dan. So I cannot say much about real kiai. I only know what I have done for my kendo and what I have been told from my teachers (including books and magazines).

I just want to share my experience here.

The real power of kiai will be revealed when we get to 6th dan or 7th dan, I think. The power of the silenct pressure, seme, that we feel from the 7th dan or above is unexplainable. It feels like there is an invisible wall coming at you.

The questions are?

"How can we reach this level?"
"How did they reach this level?"

I don?t know unless I get there. To get there, I have to do what I learned?Have a loud kiai.

As I said, I have never done any other martial arts or any other kinds of ki training. I have never won any kinds of All Japan Kendo Championships. So I am an ordinary man who likes kendo and having being doing it for a long time.

Some people can get the idea of kiai with no problems and some people have to struggle to get what it really means and does. I am the latter.

So if you are like me, there is one way to have a good kiai and improve a kiai, Well, I only know one way. Shout. Shout until you lose your voice. One day, when we get to another level, we know how not to shout too much.
Dec 22, 2008
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		My kiai is a funny sound
by: Katarina


As well as Ellot from Canada, I had, and I still have problem with my kiai. I recognized myself in his words "feel they sound funny".

Oh, yes. In my young days I trained shooting, which requires silence. Almost a year my kiai was hardly hearable.

In one moment I was wondering if something like singing would be appropriate. But it came out to make me less concentrated.

Time passed, and I feel more comfortable with my kiai but not at ease. The initial kiai is very hard to me, I would like to feel it more natural.

When I work with kids I try my best to encourage them to be as loud as possible and to overcome my own problems.

Thank you for all your answers.

Kendo-Guide.Com: Kiai is very difficult for most of people. It is not a mere scream or shout. But we have to start from screaming really hard.

If you have your kiai like singing, it becomes singing. You have to use your stomach as singers do. The key for a good kiai is whether or not we can use our stomach (abs) well or not.

Have a long and loud kiai before you strike. Use the word, ?yah?, as in ?yah? and ?Toh? in kata. In kata, we say, ?yah?, short and sharp. But before you strike in kendo, make it long.

You should make the ?ah? part longer. So it will be like ?Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!?. Squeeze out your voice from stomach by actually squeezing your stomach. Open your mouth wide and shoot your kiai at your opponent.

I think your kiai will get better if you make your kiai longer. Let me know how it goes ?
Dec 05, 2008
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Thanks
by: Elliot

Thanks for the response Hiro!

Keep you your great work please with the website and video :)

Kendo-Guide: You're welcome! Good to be a help! Thank you!

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Any Questions about Kendo.

Return to How to develop a good kiai?.