Everything You Need To Know About Dragon Ball's Kamehameha (2024)

For nearly 40 years, Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball has been a formative anime that’s irrevocably changed the medium’s shonen genre. Dragon Ball receives a lot of attention for its humble heroes, vicious villains, and incredible transformations, but its destructive Kamehameha wave transcended the series and became a staple of modern anime. Anime is full of special signature attacks like Naruto’s Rasengan, Yu Yu Hakusho’s Spirit Gun, and the Gum-Gum Pistol from One Piece, but none of these match Dragon Ball’s Kamehameha's celebrated status.

The Kamehameha is almost as old as Dragon Ball itself and while it’s hardly the anime’s most powerful attack, it’s easily the most prominent. Even fans who have never seen a Dragon Ball episode are likely familiar with the Kamehameha and its trademark hand motions. The Kamehameha is incredibly iconic but its place in the spotlight can also lead to common misconceptions that diminish this technique’s importance. It’s a lot of fun to cheer whenever one of Dragon Ball’s heroes delivers a winning Kamehameha. However, the Kamehameha’s roots and history help fans better appreciate what the attack was and how far this power has come.

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The Inspiration Behind The Kamehameha

Dragon Ball's Kamehameha appears very early in the anime and it's the first energy attack that appears in this heightened world. The original Dragon Ball is more grounded than its sequels and focused more on realistic martial arts as opposed to flying superpowered showdowns in space. The Kamehameha teased a world of greater possibilities and even though it went on to become a baseline introductory attack, it forever changed the type of techniques that are possible in Dragon Ball. Toriyama knew that he wanted this powerful ability to be a vestige of Master Roshi's "Kame" school of martial arts and that it'd be a flashy move for Goku to use to punctuate his bigger battles. However, to get beyond this general premise, Toriyama turned to his wife, Yoshimi Kato, for inspiration.

Yoshimi Kato worked as a mangaka under the pen name, Nachi Mikami, and even helped out Toriyama and his assistant on Dr. Slump when they were in danger of missing a deadline. Mikami's contributions to Dr. Slump were crucial to keeping Toriyama on schedule, but she's also responsible for a major Dragon Ball breakthrough that's arguably even more important. Mikami not only came up with the name, “Kamehameha,” but also the technique’s signature battle stance. Toriyama had suggested the “Kame” beginning of this move, but his wife’s contribution came from a particularly unusual source: a Hawaiian king.

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Origin Of The The Kamehameha's Name & King Kamehameha’s History

Dragon Ball initially drew a lot of its inspiration from the Chinese novel, Journey to the West, which is where Goku and many of the characters’ names originate. It wouldn’t have been difficult to also consult Journey to the West to name Goku’s signature attack, but drawing on a completely separate influence gives the Kamehameha some extra flair. It might seem silly now to think that anyone could ever forget a name like Kamehameha, but Toriyama's wife drew this name from the first ruler of Hawaii, King Kamehameha I. There's no other connection between the Kamehameha attack and its namesake, but this tribute to him was intentional and not some odd coincidence.

While named after King Kamehameha I, Toriyama took some curious liberties when it comes to the Japanese spelling of this attack. The Japanese characters for Kamehameha don't translate to anything meaningful, but its spelling operates as a pun that connects several dots. “Kame” means “turtle,” but it’s worth addressing that the Kamehameha is frequently referred to as the "Kamehameha Wave" in its English dubs. While this name is technically correct, it's also redundant in the same way that an "ATM Machine" is. The final "ha" translates to "wave," which means that "Kamehameha Wave" is the same as saying "Kamehameha Wave Wave."

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The Kamehameha's Evolution Through Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball’s Kamehameha becomes Goku’s staple attack and the hero’s calling card, but the powerful energy wave was first developed by Master Roshi. Roshi has perfected the art of the Kamehameha half a century before Goku learned it in the original Dragon Ball. The Kamehameha goes on to represent the pure-hearted fighters who train under Roshi in his Turtle School of Martial Arts. Master Shen’s rival Crane School practices the Dodonpa as its anti-Kamehameha alternative. The Kamehameha is performed by the user cupping their hands and concentrating ki into a single point between them. The individual typically dictates each syllable in the Kamehameha’s name as they charge up their ki energy.

The Kamehameha begins as a basic energy attack, but Dragon Ball has gradually introduced dozens of variations on it over the years, which also makes it one of the franchise’s most versatile techniques. The Kamehameha can be performed with one hand, launched through the user’s feet, or combined with other techniques. Goku has elevated the Kamehameha in interesting ways and variations like God Kamehameha and Divine Kamehameha incorporate divine energy into the attack. Master Roshi has even used the technique to destroy the Earth’s moon. Goku has taught the Kamehameha to his closest friends and family, but it’s also been co-opted by the enemy on several occasions, including Cell and Majin Buu.

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The Kamehameha's Legacy In Pop Culture

Dragon Ball’s relationship with the Kamehameha continues to evolve in exciting ways and the attack has become so entrenched in pop culture that it’s found its way into many other pieces of media. Gintama, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Danganronpa are just some of the anime that have featured or referenced the Kamehameha in a comical context. Even American cartoons like South Park reference the exaggerated energy attack. The Kamehameha’s mainstream appeal has also helped it appear in popular video games like Fortnite and PUBG Mobile through Dragon Ball collaborations and was obviously the inspiration for Street Fighter's Hadouken. It really says something when an attack is still recognizable in an entirely different context. The Kamehameha is also an extremely rare case of an anime attack that’s been commemorated in the record books. Goku’s English voice actor, Sean Schemmel, led a group of 786 people in a collective Kamehameha at 2019’s San Diego Comic Con to set the Guinness World Record for “Most People Performing a Dragon Ball Kamehameha.”

The Kamehameha’s affect and ongoing legacy in both Dragon Ball and broader pop culture is truly remarkable, especially since it's still just a silly energy attack that was casually developed for a kid's anime series. Dragon Ball has done so much with the Kamehameha but there are surely even more versions of the attack on the way now that Goku and the Z-Fighters have reached new transformations like Gohan Beast and Perfected Ultra Instinct.