Kiai
Short yell uttered by martial artists, commonly rendered in forms such as "Hi-yah!"
気合 · 気合い · 기합
In Japanese martial arts a kiai (Japanese: 気合; ) is a short shout uttered when performing an assault.
Traditional Japanese dojo generally uses single syllables beginning with a vowel. The practice has become a part of Asian martial arts in popular culture, especially in martial arts films, in writing often rendered in variants such as Hi-yah!, Aiyah!, Eeee-yah! or Hyah!. A kiai is usually not the word "kiai" itself.
External links
Facts from Wikidata Q589009 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.