KIAAAIIII!!!!

[Sjolander]

So... anybody out there do shouts while they strike? Seems pretty prevalent in some forms of martial arts, what's the benefit?

[Nissan Maxima]

I do it sometime when the mood strikes me. It looks really cool when you connect on that shot.

[Baron Alcyoneus]

KIAAAIIII!!!!swish..... isn't nearly as impressive.

[audax]

Sometimes in melees if I get surrounded or something I'll start growling or snarling. NOt on purpose, it just kind of happens.

[Agnarr]

i do very girly sex whimpers when i throw shots for fun sometimes.

[Owyn]

I do on occasion. It's not an "on purpose" sort of thing; twenty years of EMA with more than a couple years of iaido tossed in there leaves it as a reflex when I'm not thinking about my fighting, just doing.

[Theodulf]

Sometimes in melees if I get surrounded or something I'll start growling or snarling. NOt on purpose, it just kind of happens.

Me too. I also shout long and loud on the charge, but that's deliberate.

Shouting or grunting is scientifically proven to momentarily boost your strength and pain resilience. Also scares people.

[Sasha_Khan]

I use to use it as part of a 'program fake'

Make a certain noise. Throw onside leg shot.

Make a certain noise. Throw onside leg shot.

Make a certain noise. Throw onside leg shot.

Make a certain noise. Throw OFFside head shot.

[St. George]

I generally avoid doing so in fighting. I also avoid fighting fighters who make Kiaaa type noises while fighting- really I can't stand it. It just generally isn't accepted in what we do, and hence not prevalent on the field.

The odd thing is that when I play competitive tennis, however, I do make noises when I swing.

Different strokes I guess... (hahahaha)

g-

[Diglach Mac Cein]

Having some crusader yelling "KIAI! when throwing a blow is really.... odd.

Don't see it a lot around here, even amoung Asian portrayals. Except in melee.

Usually I'm yelling "LEAVE ME ALONE! I'M A FEEBLE OLD MAN!" or "NOT THE FACE!!!"



.

[Alecks]

So... anybody out there do shouts while they strike? Seems pretty prevalent in some forms of martial arts, what's the benefit?

What Theodulf said:

(...)
Shouting or grunting is scientifically proven to momentarily boost your strength and pain resilience. Also scares people.

Shouting is a form of breathing, basically. When you shout or breathe out you tighten certain muscles in the torso which would make a blow stronger. I see it similar to correct legwork.

As far as I know none of the medieval fencing manuals mention either shouts so I refrain from doing so. None of the reenactors I know do it either. If someone would do it it would be a bit silly, I guess. It's not something I would associate with medieval European swordmanship. I do try to control my breathing, though.

[Skutai]

I've done it before, but only after dropping my sword and wading into my opponent with fisticuffs. Marquis of Queensbury rules, of course.

[Ewen MacSuibhne]

In a melee yelling "Hey look at me! Look at me!" Helps for those questions of engagement.

[Baron Eirik]

I've done it before, but only after dropping my sword and wading into my opponent with fisticuffs. Marquis of Queensbury rules, of course.

To be a fair stand-up boxing match in a 24-foot ring, or as near that size as practicable.

How'd ya manage that one?

[Zygmunt Nadratowski]

I have a bad habit of holding my breath when I fight in tourneys (not so much in melees). So I am training to explosively exhale when I throw a shot. It makes a noise, but not like a 'kiai'.

[muttman]

Nope I don't. I do a hard exhale on a lot of my shots, much like I did when I boxed. I did a little while back have a sad attempt at a samuri do the "KAII" thing when he swung at me. I stabbed him in the face before he finished yelling. It was most satisfying!
Drefan

[James B.]

Nope I don't. I do a hard exhale on a lot of my shots, much like I did when I boxed. I did a little while back have a sad attempt at a samuri do the "KAII" thing when he swung at me. I stabbed him in the face before he finished yelling. It was most satisfying!
Drefan

Muttman just hinted on the practicality of it in martial arts. You want to exhale on a strike because you open your guard up to strike and you do not want to take a counterstrike while breathing in because you can have the wind knocked out of you.

When I did martial arts tournaments I gave up on Kaii and made a much more subtle exhale.

[Owyn]

As far as I know none of the medieval fencing manuals mention either shouts so I refrain from doing so. None of the reenactors I know do it either. If someone would do it it would be a bit silly, I guess. It's not something I would associate with medieval European swordmanship. I do try to control my breathing, though.

Well, I think making "Bruce Lee" sounds while SCA fighting would look a little silly and out of place...

From decades of experience in the matter, however, I have a great deal of confidence that a strike executed with a proper breath will hit harder and with more focus than one executed without. And a strike executed with a forceful yell will hit harder than one with only a breath. And that leaves out the psychological effect on the opponent of a properly timed and executed yell, which can be devastating.

That doesn't make a "Ki-ai" the only effective sound, though... Seriously, where do you suppose battle cries came from? Or the yelling, shouting, etc. that we see naturally occurring in every SCA melee? People yell, grunt, growl, holler, cry war cries, and so on. All for very similar purposes to the eastern ki-ai/ki-up.

FWIW, I do feel a little embarrassed when a real "EMA yell" slips out, and we laugh about it. For some reason, that happens more with bastard sword than with other styles...(darn iaido!)

But I think that the *concepts* involved are universal, although the sounds used may have differed from culture to culture.

[Steve S.]

I just cry a little inside my helmet.



Steve

[Vilhelm550]

I've been informed people around me have heard a slight maniacal giggling from me in melees.....

[Ottawa Swordplay]

Check out this video. The noises start at about forty seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TzdtyMC7ek&NR=1

Edit to clarify: I'm not in this video. But those guys look pretty awesome, and if they want to yell "hup! hyup!" while they are fighting, I won't complain.

Personally, the main sound I make in combat is laughing like an idiot. Some people are put off by this, thinking I'm laughing at them, but I'm not. At the same time, if it puts them off their game, I'm not going to complain to much. I actually laugh mostly when I think I should have just got hit.

[Skutai]

Kendo and Tae Kwon Do are the only combat sports I can think in which their practitioners accompany their strikes with a shout as a matter of course. It is much more common to hear a sharp "ffft" sound, such as the exhalation of boxers or other strikers use to help control their breathing. A loud "kiai" seems unnecessary.

The little yips of those Gladiatores folks are interesting, if only because they are not practicing against resisting opponents. It's a demonstration, of course, but the sounds they're making don't always seem to correspond to actual strikes. Why do it? Is it tradition, something they learned in their research, or just practice for pleasing the crowd at their next demo? I have no idea.

[dukedrake]

I use to use it as part of a 'program fake'

Make a certain noise. Throw onside leg shot.

Make a certain noise. Throw onside leg shot.

Make a certain noise. Throw onside leg shot.

Make a certain noise. Throw OFFside head shot.

This, but with offside legs and jumping flat snap to the head. Cool that our trickerations are so similar.

[Tomburr]

If you have a bad habit of holding your breath during exertion, training yourself to make a noise on exhalation is a good technique to make you breath when you wouldn't otherwise. Oxygen is our friend.