Kiai or Ki(Chi)? I just wonderd as iv done 2 styles of karate and over 6years experiance.?

Question

Overall which one do you feel is most usefull. I know they are different but based upon the same.

Answer 1

they are one and the same

the word kiai is actually two words..one of which is "ki" ...."ai" means to harmonize. ...so kiai means harmonizing of energy/spirit. it is often called a "spirit yell" ...but its alot more than that. it means to unite your breath/energy/spirit with your body movements...focusing them all in one point in time. you breath out sharply (or yell) and your whole body tenses for that instant. at the same time your technique lands...everything harmonizes together and ends together at that moment.

ki is just the term for spirit/breath/energy. not an art itsself

Answer 2

Hrm... Interesting...

Kiai is spirit. Ki is spirit. While they are not the same thing, Kiai is dependent upon Ki. This may not make sense...

Ki (気) carries a connotation of spirit, mind, heart, or breath. (Interesting side note: another character for spirit, mind, or heart is "shin" [心]). Kiai is written as (気合) or "ki" and "awaseru" (to join or gather). So kiai would be to gather your ki into your hara for use. Now, whether this means gathering your spirit, or simply breath is up to interpretation.

So take the breath translation a little further... What's more important: to breathe or to control the effects of your breathing? I can't really answer -- one can't live if one does not breathe, but one can't fight without training to control that breath.

Of course, there are many different interpretations and I'm drawing mine from bujutsu training. I'll be interested to see what others thoughts are.

You might, by the way, take a look here to see some pretty good thoughts on kiai:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiai

Answer 3

I have spent half of my life (7 years) studying Shorinji Ryu Seibukan Kiai-Do. Depending on what you're more interested in... I find Kiai is more useful because it focuses on using a more disciplined where Ki is using a more aggressive style.  Kiai teaches discipline, and when / how to use the style where Ki teaches more just how to use the style.