KIAI!!!!!!! master gets pulped

[danjutsu]

Im sure you have seen this clip of a kiai "master" having a little difficulty with a few left hooks and a kick in the mush. Enjoy again. He does rather ask for it though after his dojo demo with his loyal students hurling themselves all over the place like Jackie Chan stunt men.

YouTube - Kiai Vs. MMA

[sirdarksol]

I actually feel bad for that guy. From the way he reacts to getting hit in the face, I get the feeling that he actually believed that nobody could hurt him.

This thing reminds me of a friend's "three step challenge." He's been in contact with a lot of goths and sci-fi/fantasy zealots on the internet. He has met with people who claim to be Jedi, or psychic vampires, or Harry Potter-type sorcerers. He has repeatedly offered to meet at a location of their choosing, give them a minute, or ten minutes, or an hour (however long they said they needed for it to work) to work their particular form of magic on him, and then he would take three steps and hit them once.
Nobody's taken him up on it.

[danjutsu]

In my heart i feel sorry for this guy and probably more for his students. There is a lot to be said for KIAI. As a distraction, with intent, the voice can indeed be very powerful and usefull, but it is not a complete martial art in itself. In japanese, kiai translates as "shout" and nothing more.

[sirdarksol]

There's a bit more to it than that. The direct translation is "shout," but the Japanese concept includes something of spirit ("ki"). Still, like you said, it's not a martial art in and of itself.
There are myths of masters who could split wood or kill distant foes by focusing their ki with a shout, but, like all myths, these are impossible to prove or even properly research. Many presume that this is because there is more fiction than fact in these myths. Even if there is truth to them, however, these masters were not called "kiai masters," they were karateka, or bushi, or warrior priests.

I should say that, while I feel bad for the guy (and his students), I also think that he deserved what he got, and, like a bitter medicine, it was potentially a good thing for him, a chance to realize what he had done wrong.
Even presuming that he has some power over his ki that allows him to influence others at a distance (not that I'm saying he does, but just going with "best case scenario"), his ego had grown far too large, and he needed a reminder that he should be constantly examining his art to determine if he had strayed from the path.

[disgruntled]

yeah i gotta agree with all the comments here. the guy is a total douche, but i do feel for him..... i don't like seeing anyone upset or hurt.....

i hadn't actually seen that clip before.

do you think that he was stupid enough to believe he was powerful, or do you think he got caught in his lie and had at least enough self-dignity to just take the beating?

i have heard that those ki tricks can work on students because they believe in it so much that they react to the "chi balls" flying at them (or however you want to explain the logic)... so it is possible that he believed in himself and he was surrounded by people that believed strong enough in his ability that no one knew that it did not work.

[danjutsu]

I believe that the power of suggestion and of course the respect of his students have combined to delude this chap that shouting "Kiai" and waving your arms about is an effective fighting form. As discussed the voice can be used to distract, confuse, misdirect etc etc, but not to make someone do a backflip, please. Respect for having the nuts to try it out , he did take a bit of a dig though didnt he, ouch!