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In the last month I read a Laura Kinsale romance novel, THE SHADOW AND THE STAR, in which the romantic lead is a blonde ninja from Hawaii, and a middle-grade adventure novel, BLUE FINGERS, in which the main character is a Japanese farm boy who becomes a ninja.
Both are well-researched when it comes to martial arts, although both take the entirely forgivable liberty of portraying legend as fact within their novels, but both also picked up a curious misconception which I think they thought really was a fact. It's one that I've come across a number of times before in books which are otherwise fairly accurate when it comes to martial arts, but were written by people who had done the research but don't train.
It's that yell. You know the one. "Haaaiiiii-yah!" "EEEEEEEEEE!" "Ai-soh!" "HUH!"
It's called a kiai. Technically, it's not a yell (which comes from the throat) but a... whatever it is that comes from the diaphragm, the place you're taught to project from if you've ever studied acting or public speaking. There's a lot of ideas about why we kiai-- to psych ourselves, to express our spirit, to scare our opponents, to empty the breath from our lungs and tighten our bellies so it won't hurt if we get smacked-- but there are several things the kiai is not.
It is not something that you practice as a separate technique, or at least I've never seen anyone doing so. You kiai as you execute another technique, like a punch or kick. You don't go to the dojo and stand still while practicing your kiai.
More importantly, it is not a magic psychic ki attack. I assume writers are getting the idea that it is from the common translation, which is "spirit shout." But you cannot stand still and yell at your opponent and have your vocally projected ki knock them flying. At least, if anyone can do that, I would really like to see it.
Also, a "silent kiai" is expelling your breath with the same feeling but without the yell, and is generally done when you're trying to train without disturbing the neighbors. It is not a magic psychic ki attack where you silently project your ki at someone and make them drop dead.
So if you write a book with a magic psychic ki attack, please do not call it a kiai. The kiai is something else. (In karate, anyway. If there are magic ki-projecting kiais in aikido, I'm sure my readers who study it will let me know.)
Also, it's fine to write a novel, which is generally understood to be fiction, in which ninjas dislocate every bone in their bodies as children so that later in life they can dislocate them at will in order to fit into tight spaces and cast funny-looking shadows. However, you should not have an afterword which states that ninjas really did this, or at least not without citing a source for it. An explanation of how this practice would do anything other than weakening every joint in your body and causing them to spontaneously dislocate at inconvenient times would also be good.
This has been your Public Service Ninja Announcement for the day. Thank you.
Both are well-researched when it comes to martial arts, although both take the entirely forgivable liberty of portraying legend as fact within their novels, but both also picked up a curious misconception which I think they thought really was a fact. It's one that I've come across a number of times before in books which are otherwise fairly accurate when it comes to martial arts, but were written by people who had done the research but don't train.
It's that yell. You know the one. "Haaaiiiii-yah!" "EEEEEEEEEE!" "Ai-soh!" "HUH!"
It's called a kiai. Technically, it's not a yell (which comes from the throat) but a... whatever it is that comes from the diaphragm, the place you're taught to project from if you've ever studied acting or public speaking. There's a lot of ideas about why we kiai-- to psych ourselves, to express our spirit, to scare our opponents, to empty the breath from our lungs and tighten our bellies so it won't hurt if we get smacked-- but there are several things the kiai is not.
It is not something that you practice as a separate technique, or at least I've never seen anyone doing so. You kiai as you execute another technique, like a punch or kick. You don't go to the dojo and stand still while practicing your kiai.
More importantly, it is not a magic psychic ki attack. I assume writers are getting the idea that it is from the common translation, which is "spirit shout." But you cannot stand still and yell at your opponent and have your vocally projected ki knock them flying. At least, if anyone can do that, I would really like to see it.
Also, a "silent kiai" is expelling your breath with the same feeling but without the yell, and is generally done when you're trying to train without disturbing the neighbors. It is not a magic psychic ki attack where you silently project your ki at someone and make them drop dead.
So if you write a book with a magic psychic ki attack, please do not call it a kiai. The kiai is something else. (In karate, anyway. If there are magic ki-projecting kiais in aikido, I'm sure my readers who study it will let me know.)
Also, it's fine to write a novel, which is generally understood to be fiction, in which ninjas dislocate every bone in their bodies as children so that later in life they can dislocate them at will in order to fit into tight spaces and cast funny-looking shadows. However, you should not have an afterword which states that ninjas really did this, or at least not without citing a source for it. An explanation of how this practice would do anything other than weakening every joint in your body and causing them to spontaneously dislocate at inconvenient times would also be good.
This has been your Public Service Ninja Announcement for the day. Thank you.
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I always thought the thing about scaring the opponent (as opposed to focusing your own energy) was a bit silly, but R--'s kiai makes me flinch every time. I swear it's damaging my hearing. However, it's better to have your opponents more scared of your techniques than of your kiai than vice versa.
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Hee!
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I suppose if one's breath is bad enough, one might be able to knock an opponent backward with just a kiai, but I don't think that's quite what the authors are going for here...
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