Kime, Part 1

Focus your entire being on achieving the objective.

The central principle of kime is to focus your entire being on achieving your objective. When you apply kime, there is nothing else in your world but the task at hand, nothing but destroying the target, defeating the enemy.

This level of commitment must be physical as well as mental. For the hard stylist, that means putting every bit of speed and every ounce of strength possible into each strike. To achieve speed you must completely relax the antagonistic muscles, https://www.reference.com/science/list-antagonist-muscle-pairs-2778a04c3a566a55 , those that would work against moving your weapon in the desired direction, and focus your energy into the protagonists, those muscles projecting the blow towards the target. Then, to generate power you must drive every protagonistic muscle in your body into the blow in one precise instant.Done correctly, your entire body snaps like a giant spring, levering against the ground and producing explosive force. Aim and timing must be precise. When it is, the resultant kime produces a sharp audible crack** and a remarkable amount of energy is released into the target.

Physical kime is different for the soft stylist. Here, the warrior must focus on feeling and blending with the opponent's energy. As he attacks, whether it is a strike or a grab, you must focus every fiber pf your attention on sensing the flow of energy and moving with it, not against it. Maintain your Haragei, your center, and smoothly blend with the force your enemy is projecting until he overextends and you sense his yang energy shift to yin. At that point you add energy to your opponent's and your passive blending turns to domination, directing him into the strike, hold or throw….

In the hard style, kime is a critical ingredient of Kiai; it's the focus that concentrates Ki, the energy produced by the life force. In soft styles, on the other hand, kime more directly facilitates the sensing, blending, and dominating forces of aiki.

In the first case the force is linear and the Kime explosive, as are the characteristics of Kiai. In the second case, the force is circular and the kime grows throughout the flow of the arc, drawing energy from the opponent until it turns against and consumes him. This is the essence of kinetic aiki.

In both cases, the so-called "spirit shout" is a key tool for training warriors to develop Kime.

** Many people measure a student's kime by listening for this crack; however, this method isn't foolproof, as many learn ways to pop their uniform sleeves without employing it.