By: Matthew Cheng, SFU student

One of the biggest questions people have about karate is why practitioners yell when they punch or kick. They do it to practice kiai (pronounced “key-eye”) — the official word to describe the sounds heard when performing an attacking strike. “Two Japanese characters make up the word: Ki means ‘energy,’ and ai means ‘to unify.’” It’s essentially the “convergence of your energy.”

To perform a kiai, athletes need to exhale during the technique instead of holding their breath. If an athlete holds their breath, their muscles will tighten up. This tension makes the body slow and rigid. When hit with a flood of adrenaline, it’s normal for your breathing to become more shallow because your airways are expanding to take in more oxygen to your muscles. Kiai can be a tremendous help in steadying your breathing. 

It’s important that the sound comes from your stomach and not your throat. In order to do that, you’ll have to trigger your transversus abdominis, which sits on either side of your abdominal wall. If done correctly, the pressure in your stomach should push the shout from your mouth as you exhale. The kiai is similar to vocalizations practiced in other sports. In boxing, competitors grunt to exert power, while in sumo wrestling, competitors use stomping as an intimidation tactic while entering the ring. Kiai can also be done for reasons beyond breath control: from gathering strength to intimidating your opponent. The real consensus is that it sounds different for everyone and is interconnected with a person’s spirit.