Overuse of Kiai's!

[sensei8]

IMHO, I've noticed that no matter the division, especially the Traditional/Okinawa/Japanese divisions, there are way to many Kiai's. When I see someone perform a "traditional" Kata, for example, Unsu, and the competitor does more Kiai's than the Kata was intended for, as a judge, I start deducting after the two Kiai's as prescribed in Unsu!

Why do competitors at the Diamond Nationals and/or the AKA Grand Nationals, for example, feel that they have to do so many Kiai's? The competitors will Kiai at least 8 times, and this is before Unsu even begins; while they walk in the ring, before they walk in the ring, turning to face the judges, and on and on and on.

Possibly the excessive Kiai's are ok in the other divisions, but, NOT in the "traditional" divisions, imho! Would they do the more than the prescribed amount of Kiai during their Rank test? I doubt it! So, why do they feel that it's ok during the "traditional" divisions at these big tournaments? Because when someone did it the first time, no judge said a thing about it and/or no deductions were given. Therefore, the Kata is lost, imho, because one can't see the forest because of all of the trees/Kiai's!

[isshinryu5toforever]

haha, that's quite a nice observation. The overuse of kiai's started right around the same time XMA started becoming truly popular. I never understood it either.

As far as the traditional division. It's such a loose term these days. You can do forms that you created as long as they don't cross certain boundaries. You don't have to do a truly traditional kata anymore. I can't imagine what some judges would do if they saw someone do Naihanchi or even Koryo in the black belt division (I'm assuming we're talking open tournaments with traditional divisions where you'll get a good mix of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese arts). I really do think a move back to simplicity would be a nice thing. It'd have to start with people hosting truly traditional tournaments though with rules denoting that forms must be traditional in origin, and cannot be created. Taekwondo has this, because the AAU and USTU run all their tournaments that way, but Karate is somehow missing out. Maybe we should start a Traditional Karate Association of America?

[bushido_man96]

I see the overuse of kihaps in Olympic TKD sparring. Its just kind of crazy. That, and the yells tend to get drawn out, too. I like to do very brief kihaps; very forceful expulsions of air. But, to each their own, I guess.

[isshinryu5toforever]

Yeah, Olympic sparring does have that problem. It's more a showmanship thing though. They're saying, "HEY!! I scored! Did you see that?! I scored!" It's the same thing when they celebrate after a point, which I think is ridiculous. I fought at the collegiate level.

This all goes back to Taekwondo being accessible, and the sparring becoming a point sport rather than a knockout one. I call it the de-evolution of Taekwondo sparring. You saw it in 2004 when a player got kicked in the head while celebrating a standard one point roundhouse kick to the chest protector AT THE OLYMPICS. You see it when kids start doing it, trying to be someone like Steven Lopez. You see it in the terminology used these days to describe someone that does WTF sparring at any level. They're a player, not a student. Big difference there.

[bushido_man96]

Yeah, I think that is true. Sad, but true. I know I won't allow any student to do that in any class that I teach.

[sensei8]

Maybe we should start a Traditional Karate Association of America?

Maybe we should. I'd sign up for it!

Imho, all of the excessive kiai's means that these 'competitors' have never learnt or have forgotten the true purpose of the kiai!

[The BB of C]

I noticed that the kiats are very much over used in Extreme divisions. Not only are there too many but they are loud and obnoxious.

[white owl]

I was just at a tournament Sat. and I was judging and notice the over use of kihaps and kias in Katas and Weapon Forms. This since I do not know all styles and I mostly judge on spirit and techniques made it very hard to judge there katas when every move they thrown was a kihap or kia. So yes I do notice this to.

[Truestar]

I've been a corner judge twice now. The overuse of kiais is plain ridiculous and something I laugh at. When you scream at the top of your lungs I think you are defeating the purpose.

I see it as a quick, brief, loud shout which serves to add power to a technique and exhaust your air supply in order to sustain a hit to the body. Screaming at the top of your lungs doesn't do this.

Now that I am learning the ropes of the Martial Arts I will be much more aggressive at tournaments now. I've trained for 9 years in Tae Kwon Do and have just recently started training in another Martial Art. No where in my years or my new art have we been taught or will we be taught to perform these excessive kiais. To me they misrepresent what a real kiai is, and misrepresents the Martial Arts. I will be more vigil as far as grading goes.

[sensei8]

I've even seen competitors kiai very long and loudly when they adjust their uniform/belt...okie dokie!