The Kaio Ken Explained
The following article will reveal the origin, history and inner mechanics of the Kaio Ken martial arts technique.
What is the Kaio Ken?
The Kaio Ken is a heavenly martial arts technique taught to Goku by North Kaio.
It is one of Goku’s signature techniques used during the first few sagas of Dragon Ball Z.
The Kaio Ken amplifies Goku’s speed, power, mental acuity and physical prowess for short bursts of high intensity.
In the early episodes of Dragon Ball Z, Goku was killed by his brother Raditz, passed into the afterlife, ran 1,000,000 kilometers (10,000 miles in the English dub) across Snake Way, and then trained with North Kaio on his planet.
Not even North Kaio could fully perfect the Kaio Ken, as it is a very advanced mind-body technique.
Goku eventually surpassed his master.
Terminology of Kaio Ken
Kaio Ken (Japanese Kanji: 界王拳) is pronounced as “Kigh-oh-ken,” not “Kay-oh-ken” as it was pronounced in the original English dub. When spoken properly, the “Kai” in Kaio rhymes with “pie.”
Kaio (界王) can be translated as “Lord of the Worlds.”
Ken (拳) is Japanese for “Fist” or “Hand” and in the martial arts world Ken refers to a particular style or family of techniques.
Kaio Ken thus means “Lord of the Worlds Fist,” or alternatively “Fist of the World King,” and therefore serves as both the signature technique of North Kaio and the name of the Kaio martial arts style in general.
A Kaio is a deity of higher realms that presides over a specific dominion. Each Kaio is a master of their own realm, and beneath them are other lords who rule over their individual sectors or planets.
This system of lord above lord manifests itself from the highest realms to the lowest, like a series of concentric circles, each divided into quadrants.
North Kaio is the ruler of the North Quadrant of the Western Galaxy, and is the lord of Kami, appointed Guardian of the Earth, where Goku lives.
There are other Kaio’s, but it is not known whether they are also able to perform or teach the Kaio Ken.
When was the Kaio Ken Used?
The first time we see Goku use the Kaio Ken technique is in Dragon Ball Z episode 29, while fighting against the Saiyans; Nappa and Vegeta.
Nappa is flying toward Goku’s son Gohan and best friend Krillin to deliver a death blow. Goku is not flying fast enough to catch up to Nappa, so he is forced to use the Kaio Ken technique to intercept the strike.
Goku screams “Kaio Ken!” and is surrounded by a flaming red aura. He propels forward in the sky and punches Nappa with both fists in his spine, mid-flight. Nappa spins around as a result of the blow.
Continuing to surge forward, Goku lands on the ground underneath Nappa, and then catches him with one hand before he makes impact. Goku then tosses his now paralyzed opponent’s body to the ground.
The scene’s immediate aftermath is transcribed here, from the subtitled FUNimation Dragon Boxes:
Vegeta: “What was that just now?! For an instant, his speed and power suddenly increased!”
Krillin: “G-Goku how did you do that? Was that a technique you learned from that Kaio person?”
Goku: “Yeah. It’s called Kaio-ken. By controlling all of the energy [Ki] within your body, you can momentarily amplify it. If you do it right, your speed, power, destructive and defensive forces all increase many times over.”
Krillin: “That’s so awesome! Even after getting that much stronger, you can become many times stronger than that?”
Goku: “Yeah. [But] If I don’t restrain my Ki just right while I’m controlling it, I could kill myself. In short…”
[Flashback to his training on North Kaio’s Planet]
North Kaio: “You have done well to master the Kaio Ken technique, which even I could not handle, to this degree. However, I must stress again that you must not overuse Kaio Ken at your current level. If you mishandle your control, you will end up ruining your body. Do your best to limit yourself to a double multiplier. Remember, using Kaio Ken any higher than that will place too great a burden upon your body. In other words, your body won’t be able to keep up with the Kaio Ken, and it will bite back for what you’re doing to it.”
Goku: “Got it!”
The English version dubbed by FUNimation follows the same basic flow, but misses some important descriptive points, so the original Japanese was referenced here instead.
The Kaio Ken is used over a dozen times throughout the entire series.
How does the Kaio Ken Work?
This is where most Dragon Ball guides stop. They talk about the What and the When. They don’t talk about the How.
The reason most guides to Dragon Ball do not explain how the Kaio Ken works is most likely because the above dialogue is all they have available as reference. This dialogue is as far as the series goes in explaining the Kaio Ken.
But how does the Kaio Ken work, and what are the inner mechanics?
The exact training techniques employed by North Kaio are unknown. All we see is Goku busting through some bricks after he learned it, but not how he actually learned to use it in the first place.
Because of the lack of official explanation, the following explanation for the Kaio Ken represents my best attempt.
Training the Kaio Ken
Recognize that the Kaio Ken is an integrated mind-body technique.
A practice of both mind and body means simultaneously cultivating the mind and tempering the body.
If the body is not trained to a high degree, then even if the mind were capable, the body would falter.
In the case of Goku, tempering of the body involves physical training with a focus on repetition and teaching the body how to react and become integrated with the mind.
Goku cultivated the mind when he worked on proper timing, mental endurance and a sharp focus.
From a metaphysical perspective, by undergoing intense and focused training Goku is able to fill his body on the molecular and sub-molecular levels with more and more energy. In Dragon Ball they call this energy Ki.
Through such training Ki becomes increasingly dense, to a point where it fills up all the cells in the body. The particles of energy are increasingly refined to become smaller and more powerful, even though they fill up the same amount of space.
So the more Goku trains, the more powerful he becomes.
Physical transformations occur at later points in the series, but not now.
Using the Kaio Ken
Analyzing the technique from a Daoist martial arts perspective may produce the following understanding.
The energy is drawn from the Dan Tian (energy field in the lower body, Chinese: 丹田), and sent out to the chest, back, head and four limbs.
The Ki travels underneath the skin and causes the muscles to bulge and the flesh to become thick around the bones.
As the Ki reaches the surface of the body in this dimension it manifests as heat, wind, and electricity.
When Goku employs the Kaio Ken he opens up all the cells in his body and taps into their energy on a molecular and sub-molecular level.
Goku’s cells, molecules, atoms, neutrons, quarks and all other sub atomic particles are opened up and tapped into for a very short amount of time.
The Kaio Ken increases the metabolism of the cells in the body. The cells exert an incredible amount of energy in a short amount of time and are then completely expended.
The cells die and need to be replaced. But this recovery process takes as much time as the normal functions of the body will dictate. So during a battle, the use of Kaio Ken must only be used in desperate times of need.
A correlative explanation to Tibetan “Monk’s Fire” may help.
In this practice monks will wrap a wet cloth around themselves and then sit in meditation in the freezing cold mountains. As they sit, the water in the cloth starts to steam, and eventually the towel becomes dry. Under thermal cameras it can be seen that the monks bodies are much hotter than normal.
The exact science of how the monks do this is still waiting to be discovered. Perhaps they heat up the body by using Ki or by increasing their cellular metabolism via a mental technique. Long distance cold environment runners have been found to use a similar technique.
In the second DBZ movie, The World’s Strongest, Goku uses the Kaio Ken to free himself from the frozen ice of Ebifurya’s attack. He heats up so much that the ice melts and breaks apart.
Having melted the ice and broken free, Goku defeats his opponent.
The Dangers of Kaio Ken
There are repercussions to using the Kaio Ken, because Goku’s Ki is at higher levels than his natural, base form is used to.
Each multiplier of the Kaio Ken increases the metabolic rate and expenditure of the cells. This is why North Kaio warned Goku during his training against the Saiyans to not go beyond Kaio Ken x 2. He said anything else would kill him.
But during the battle, Goku was forced to go to Kaio Ken x 3, and even Kaio Ken x 4 in order to win.
In the Viz English manga, Goku says:
“Oh well… Better to blow myself up than let him do it.”
During his battle with the Saiyans, Kame Seninn was on Kame Island and felt the energy being exerted by Goku. He said the following:
“It’s said that the flame of a candle burns intensely just before it goes out. It seems to me that Goku is tremendously overexerting himself.” Chi-Chi cries back, “Don’t say anything so ill-fated!”
Goku is fighting for his life against Vegeta and says to himself:
“Damn, he’s a tough one… If I don’t finish this quickly–”
And then part of Goku’s body goes into spasm:
“Damn—My body can’t–! My whole body is aching! Sure enough, it looks like performing a times three Kaio-Ken was asking too much… If I dally around, I’ll be the one who goes down first!”
The power of Goku’s Saiyan genetics and incredible inborn quality of endurance are what allow him to persevere.
He gains victory and defens the earth, but his body is completely drained and crushed. Only the miraculous power of the Senzu allow him to recover.
Kaio Ken Koncluded
The Kaio Ken was a useful technique but was phased out as the series continued.
By the time Goku becomes a Super Saiyan during the Freeza Saga he no longer employs short bursts of intense but personally crippling power.
The other technique Goku learned from North Kaio was the Genki Dama.
The Genki Dama works in the opposite fashion to the Kaio Ken. It absorbs energy from within a certain expanse of time and space, and channels it into the cells, filling them with righteous life energy that is aligned with the characteristic of the universe.
A person cannot even use this technique unless they have a pure heart. When using the Genki Dama, Goku’s face becomes very peaceful and meditative.
By contrast, when using the Kaio Ken, Goku’s face becomes angry and intently focused, as if he were expelling a great deal of energy.
The Genki Dama and Kaio Ken are corollary techniques within the same family of Kaio Ken martial art. Goku was the only student of North Kaio’s who learned both.
With these two techniques, one of absorbing and the other of expelling, Goku becomes a super powerful warrior.
Combine these with the Kamehameha energy wave and Goku is nearly unstoppable.
Amazing article, i loved the reference to tibetian tummo, you must be really smart, next to perhaps bigu meditation it is some of the most difficult techniques but i loved your comparison with tummo and the kaio ken, great article!
Thanks! I’m not that smart. I just know a few things here and there.
In Dragon Ball, the closest example of Bigu is in Piccolo and the other Namek’s, as they only drink water. Is it their genetics or their purposeful way of living? Fascinating stuff.
hahaha and you have info on breatharians as well! Your an interesting guy good luck with the book and whatever else it is you hope to achieve with your training, I’ll be sure to support the official release
If I remember correctly, Goku used the Kaio Ken as a super saiyan other world when fighting Pikkon. Perhaps it allowed Goku to reach super saiyan 3 later on.
Interesting idea. I recall that those episodes were filler, meaning they were not part of the manga, but some of the filler episodes had moments where we could gain some insights.
some of the filler definatly seemed to have some insight, specifically in dragon ball where goku meets master mutaihito and learns more about energy, of course i always question if that blast was an all purpose pure energy blast or a regular energy blast….if it was an all purpose pure energy blast then its really inconsistent with the actual story since even king piccolo was too strong for mutaihito to beat head on
Derek, I love the insights you have. I have to say that I really enjoy reading your blog as you take something that most people see as just a TV show and show them that there is so much more to it and there is a lot of hidden history and philosophy in it. Keep it coming man!
Thanks, Gabe. I am doing what I can, and am glad that the content is connecting with people!
Great article! I read most of these articles before and decided to come back to comment. These are really informative articles so keep up the good work! By the way who do you think created the Kaio-ken? I believe it’s an ancient Kai technique created by an unknown Kaioshin. I don’t think it’s possible for King Kai to be the creator because he couldn’t perform the technique himself. King Kai may have created it long ago and could no longer perform it as he got older. It’s fun to speculate!
Good point about King Kai possibly not being the creator. My guess is that it’s something inherited from elsewhere, but there’s no way to know who created it. Or maybe he enlightened to it automatically when he ate the Kaiju fruit (or whatever it’s called) that makes beings into Kaio’s.
What do you think about Kaoi-Ken being used in Super Saiyan form?
What do you think about Kaoi-Ken being used in Super Saiyan form?
I think it would probably rip his body apart. Goku has a lot of endurance, but even he has limits.
That technique appeared once, called “Super Kaio-ken.”
He already did against pikkon
lol 3 years late, but anyway Dragon Ball Super, Fighting against Hit The Assasin, he uses Super Saiyan Blue + Kaoi-Ken x10 i think Ep 39 or 38
I WANT TO LEARN KAIOKEN ART PLEASE HELP ME
Hi DEV, I’d love to teach you how to do a Kaio Ken, but first I have to figure it out myself. Believe me when I say that I’m trying! When I have something to share with others, I’ll post it on this blog.
i have been training karate as a martial art for few years and I have to say . I found in DG / DGZ a lot of common points. That description of Kaio ken technic and how to maximize speed and strength was so close to our recent training at some level. Body work is intense and difficult and the Ki work out is much harder. Our sensei told us count an other 20 years to see something , slow progress lol…
I’ve been studying Chi/Ki energy control for years, I have gotten to the point where my muscles bulge when I focus and I can feel my energy and the energy of those around me. I enjoy your more scientific approach to all of this as my knowledge of science is not much better than Goku’s lol. I love your site man, keep it up!
Very cool. I had similar experiences with my own practice, especially when doing Gong Fu and then Qi Gong, back to back. And thanks. I’m glad you like the site.
Do you train your body a.k.a. workout? I have an intense physical training regimen but I don’t meditate like I should. P.S. Wouldn’t the Kaio Ken be similar to unlocking the mental block in your brain that keeps you from using your bodies full strength due to the damage it could do to your body, I remember reading about this and I thought of the Kaio Ken lol.
I used to train like a madman. Just like Goku in fact. But in recent years I’ve been focused much more on the internal, with meditation and study of character improvement being more important. Lately though I’ve been feeling the itch to get back into the physical side of things.
Yes, in a sense, that is what it’s about. There is a video by the Discovery Channel which shows a guy pushing a huge boulder off of his body as he approaches a cliff and is about to die. Normally he wouldn’t be able to push that much weight, but when in survival mode his body activated everything it had, and he lived to talk about it. His body was totally shredded apart afterward, just like Goku’s.
You used to train like Goku. What exactly did that entail?
5 hours a day of Shaolin Gong Fu, Taiji Quan, Qi Gong, and a home gym, for 6 days a week at high intensity, plus living and breathing DBZ.
Any full contact sparring?
Yeah, sparring as well. Weapons too. Staves, swords, Chinese weapons, etc.
Yes it would. But as is indicated, it takes both mind and body training that certain monks achieve. Not everyone can do it and doing it while active or fighting is even more difficult.
Kaioken is Kaioken X2. I don’t know how people think that they are different.
Kaioken increases his abilities by half of what they already were. Kaioken x2 completely doubles his abilities.
actually normal human can achieve kio ken because when we are in danger we do some remarkable things and that feeling lasts for only 1-2 minutes just like Kio Ken actually this is more better topic than super saiyans because for becoming a super saiyan you have too do mad training but Kio ken is already done by many in real life when in danger and martialists in Japan and China are already mastered this technique
that’s…adrenaline…everyone has that but if you want to control it like,release it at will and not auto mode,yah that might be tough but not as tough as what meditating is…that’s the reason I quit meditating because it’s just not for me :3
Goku already have edge in mind training. Remember when one of the geniu forces took his body? Yes, the enemy cannot unlock gokus power since it needs both mind and body to sync
I use Kiao Ken to crush mental barriers Ive erected during intense work outs. Helps me get that last rep in. Also during mountain climbs when I need that boost of intensity. Its not on the scale of defeating Vegeta however the performance enhancements are small but noticable.
how do u usekaioken you dint tell us when iwas reading
[…] for short and intense bursts of power.Where the Genki Dama is white (with blue exterior), the Kaio-Ken is red.The idea of “opening” and “closing” or “drawing in” and “pushing out” […]