Kata kiai

[lwegerich]

Hi folks,

is there any special meaning behind the kiai sounds of "yah!" and "to!" of the kendo kata?

Why "yah" and "to" and not anything else.

Thx,

Lars

[mingshi]

I made these answers up... but either one will do :D

a. These are associated with the Kiai in certain Koryu (classical martial school...). I recall one of the naginata school uses "yeeei" (?)

b. Something symbolic in a religious sense. (Shinto or Zen?)

My 2p.

[R A Sosnowski]

I made these answers up... but either one will do :D

a. These are associated with the Kiai in certain Koryu (classical martial school...). I recall one of the naginata school uses "yeeei" (?)

b. Something symbolic in a religious sense. (Shinto or Zen?)

My 2p.

Both answers are correct. "b." is the root - certain syllables are associated with certain feelings. For example, "Om" is considered the universal syllable in certain meditation traditions, and is primarily used in basic chanting.

Kiai in Kendo no Kata are borrowed from "a." although I cannot recall the specific Ryuha off hand.

"Eih" is used for Nuketsuke (single-hand draw and cut), but this does not apply to Kendo/Kenjutsu, but it does to Iaido/Batto-do/Iai-jutsu/Batto-jutsu.

"Yah" is used for a two-handed attacking cut.

"Toh" is used for a Kiri Oroshi (two-handed finishing cut).

HTH.

[Charlie]

They do have significance. Wayne Muramoto wrote on this a little bit at Furyu.com:

http://www.furyu.com/onlinearticles/mudra.html

The kiai "yah," for example, pronounced in a certain way, represented the force of a released arrow (in Japanese: ya). Your voice was supposed to penetrate the person's spirit like an arrow. The other kiai had other meanings and were used for specific movements.