Notes
Drunken Luohan (醉羅漢拳) — Seven Star Mantis
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醉羅漢拳 (Zuì Luóhàn Quán, "Drunken Luohan Boxing") is the drunken-boxing form of Seven Star Praying Mantis, published by Wong Hon Fan (黃漢勛) in 1947, Luo Guangyu line. A 40-posture set built on the zuiquan (醉拳) principle of "drunk yet not drunk" (似醉非醉) — the body staggers, tilts, and seems about to fall, while every wobble hides a precise mantis strike. Its posture names read like a drinking story: raising the cup (舉杯), toasting (敬酒), reeling but steadying (欲跌還穩), feigning retreat while truly advancing (似退實進).
The form — move-by-move (拳譜)
The posture sequence as numbered in Wong Hon Fan's manual (第一式 … ), each Chinese name with a plain English gloss:
# | 式 (中文) | English |
|---|---|---|
1 | 中平拱手讓座 | Level stance, cup the hands and offer the seat |
2 | 脱拷勢雙墜捶 | Shaking off the shackles, double dropping punch |
3 | 馬式舉杯敬酒 | Horse stance, raise the cup to toast |
4 | 醉酒欲跌還穩 | Drunk — about to fall, yet steadying |
5 | 登山封手統捶 | Mountain-climbing, sealing hand, governing punch |
6 | 封手十字腿法 | Sealing hand, cross kick |
7 | 蹤跳雙飛腿法 | Leaping double flying kick |
8 | 右旋風腿舉杯 | Right whirlwind kick, raise the cup |
9 | 醉酒似退實進 | Drunk — seeming to retreat, truly advancing |
10 | 醉酒似退實進 | Drunk — seeming to retreat, truly advancing |
11 | 醉酒似退實進 | Drunk — seeming to retreat, truly advancing |
12 | 醉酒欲斜還正 | Drunk — about to topple, yet righting |
13 | 雙封手右蹬腿 | Double sealing hands, right stamping kick |
14 | 臥地雙輾腿法 | Lying on the ground, double grinding leg-sweep |
15 | 翻身左掃腿法 | Turn the body, left sweeping kick |
16 | 翻身右掃腿法 | Turn the body, right sweeping kick |
17 | 臥虎欲起還跌 | Crouching tiger — about to rise, yet dropping |
18 | 翻身大滾突圍 | Turn the body, great roll, breaking out of the encirclement |
19 | 右旋風腿舉杯 | Right whirlwind kick, raise the cup |
20 | 醉酒欲轉還止 | Drunk — about to turn, yet halting |
21 | 醉酒欲轉還止 | Drunk — about to turn, yet halting |
22 | 捧酒過景陽崗 | Bearing the wine across Jingyang Ridge |
23 | 騎馬掛手統捶 | Riding-horse, hanging hand, governing punch |
24 | 登山左劈捶法 | Mountain-climbing, left chopping punch |
25 | 登山右劈捶法 | Mountain-climbing, right chopping punch |
26 | 登山左劈捶法 | Mountain-climbing, left chopping punch |
27 | 登山右劈捶法 | Mountain-climbing, right chopping punch |
28 | 撲腿掛手掃捶 | Pouncing leg, hanging hand, sweeping punch |
29 | 封手登山揷掌 | Sealing hand, mountain-climbing, inserting palm |
30 | 翻身封手叠肘 | Turn the body, sealing hand, stacked elbow |
31 | 欲起先落敬酒 | About to rise, first dropping — a toast |
32 | 飄步騎馬献酒 | Drifting step, riding-horse, presenting the wine |
33 | 翻身右旋風腿 | Turn the body, right whirlwind kick |
34 | 凌空臥下輾腿 | Leap up, drop to the ground, grinding leg-sweep |
35 | 翻身左掃腿法 | Turn the body, left sweeping kick |
36 | 翻身右掃腿法 | Turn the body, right sweeping kick |
37 | 翻身大滾突圍 | Turn the body, great roll, breaking out of the encirclement |
38 | 右旋風腿舉杯 | Right whirlwind kick, raise the cup |
39 | 拱拳中平歸座 | Cup the fist, level stance, return to the seat |
40 | 脱拷勢雙墜捶 | Shaking off the shackles, double dropping punch (closing) |
The drunken theme
Drunken boxing trades on deception: the staggering, the reeling, the near-falls are bait, and the strike lands from inside the wobble. Posture 22, 捧酒過景陽崗 ("bearing the wine across Jingyang Ridge"), names the most famous drunken-hero scene in Chinese literature — Wu Song (武松) drinking eighteen bowls and then killing a tiger bare-handed on Jingyang Ridge in Water Margin (水滸傳). The set's "Luohan (羅漢)" framing places it in the Shaolin arhat tradition the Eighteen Luohan Exercises also draw on.
See also
Seven Star Mantis (七星螳螂) — the branch this form belongs to
Mantis Forms — the script-and-video map of every form
Luohan Gong (羅漢功) — the Eighteen Luohan Exercises
Bung Bu (崩步拳) — the foundation form
Sources
[1] Wong Hon Fan (黃漢勛), 醉羅漢拳 (Seven Star Praying Mantis, Luo Guangyu line; 1947) — the source manual for the posture sequence and its numbering.
[2] Paul Brennan, Drunken Luohan — the open English translation of Wong's full text (in copyright; linked, not reproduced). The posture-name list here is given under fair-use citation with the wiki's own glosses.
Details
- Section:
- Notes
- Updated:
- 2026-06-08
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