Kai

The four Kais: West, South, East, and North

Directory: Characters → Deities A Kai (界王, Kaio; lit. King of the Worlds) is an upper-level god of the universe in the Dragon Ball series. There are five Kais, with four of them are controlling a particular quadrant of the universe and the fifth supervising them.

Concept

The Kais and Supreme Kais seem to be based on the deities who watch over the cardinal directions in Hindu scriptures (guardians of the directions) and Buddhist faith (Four Heavenly Kings). There are generally four main guardians, sometimes eight, with two additional guardians who govern and protect space, for a total of ten gods (like the Kais and Supreme Kais).

Overview

Origins

The four Kais' planets

The Kais originally come from Planet Kaishin, which is basically a larger version of the planets that the four Kais call home (such as King Kai's planet). On the planet, there are gigantic trees, the Kaiju, and the Kais are all born as Shin-jin from the fruit of those trees. Shin-jins' average life expectancy is said to be 75,000 years. They live leisurely lives, studying various things at a school-like castle, until one of the Kais passes away. Then, they will draw lots among themselves to choose who will take the dead Kai's place and become the new Kai.

Kings of the universe

There are five Kais in the Dragon Ball universe. Four of them are given the job of controlling a particular quadrant of the universe, and overseeing the local deities (Guardians) on each planet of their quadrant. They are called the North Kai (this position is held by King Kai in the local Earth galaxy), the West Kai, the South Kai, and the East Kai. The fifth one is a Grand Kai who oversees them all.

North and South Kais in Fusion Reborn

Above the Kais there are Supreme Kais who rule over the entire universe, with a Grand Supreme Kai overseeing them. While the lower Kais watch over the living world, the Supreme Kais watch over both the Other World and the living world.

The Kais live in the Other World; they are among the few living residents in Other World. They are considered immortal, in the sense that they refer to residents of the living world as "mortals," but can still die of unnatural causes (as King Kai does, when he is inadvertently killed by the self-destructing Cell), however since they are already in Other World it doesn't really affect them in the long run (however, King Kai did receive tons of laughter and bullying from his fellow Kais for being dead). The Kais are also known to have a love for fancy cars and each Kai owns one.

West and East Kais in Fusion Reborn

During the events in the series, Kais prove not to be strong enough to oppose the villains directly, though they seem to influence the process by giving wise advice or providing training. King Kai has amazingly powerful telepathy skills, being able to transfer his thoughts to the whole planets or even galaxies, and he also teaches Goku highly useful techniques such as the Spirit Bomb and the Kaio-ken attack.

In the Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound movie, King Kai explains that in the past, he and the other three Kais (South, East and West) took it upon themselves to stop the evil galactic thug Bojack. To do so, they combined their power and imprisoned Bojack and his followers in a planet (a star in the dub) at the far end of the galaxy. Bojack and his henchmen were later set free when King Kai's planet was destroyed and King Kai was killed by the self-destructing Cell; this caused the seal which bound Bojack to break.

Known Kais

• Grand Kai
• North Kai
• East Kai
• West Kai
• South Kai

Trivia

• Every Kai has some form of eyewear: King Kai wears black Teashade sunglasses, East Kai wears red Jackie Ohh sunglasses, West Kai wears a blue monocle, South Kai wears white Jackie Ohh sunglasses, and Grand Kai wears black Wayfarer sunglasses.
• North Kai and South Kai are the only two of the five Kais that appear in the Dragon Ball manga.

Gallery

East, West, and South Kais North, West, and East Kais The four Kais The Kais during the Other World Tournament The Kais The Kais The Kais North Kai and West Kai The Kais burned by Pikkon's Thunder Flash Attack North and West Kais burned by the Thunder Flash Attack South and East Kais burned by the Thunder Flash Attack North, West and South Kais The Kais The Kais The Kais The Kais West and North Kais The four Kais with Goku and Pikkon in Buu's Fury