Black Tiger Emerges (黑虎出洞 / 拖步三捶) — Eight Step Mantis

黑虎出洞 (Hēihǔ Chū Dòng, "Black Tiger Emerges from the Cave") — also called 拖步三捶 (Tuōbù Sānchuí, "Dragging-Step Three Punches") — is the signature technique of Eight Step Praying Mantis and the most storied single movement in the Wei Xiaotang (衛笑堂) lineage. Of it the lineage says it "requires three years of practice" (苦練三年); Wei's own teaching held that when it lands, "the fist goes out and the man goes down" (拳出人倒).

A technique, not a separate form

It is important to be precise about what 黑虎出洞 is. It is the eighth of the eight steps (八步) — the 拖步 (dragging step) — fused with three driving punches. It is not a standalone solo set with its own numbered 拳譜; rather, it is the system's defining technique, drilled in isolation and then embedded inside the forms:

• 摘要一段 (Zhai Yao Section 1) — posture 37

• 大翻車 (Large Rolling Wheel) — posture 28

Its weapon-section counterpart — the same dragging-step, three-strike idea carried into a weapon — is named 活步三捶 (Huóbù Sānchuí, "Live-Step Three Punches").

Because there is no separate solo script to reproduce, this page documents the technique and points to the forms that carry it, rather than inventing a sequence.

What it is

• 拖步 (the dragging step) — the eighth step: a low, weighted advance that drags the rear foot in, closing distance while staying rooted, so the whole body mass arrives behind the strike

• 三捶 (three punches) — a driving three-beat hand sequence issued on that closing step

• The "black tiger" image — the low, surging entry of a tiger breaking from its cave, committing fully forward

See also

八步螳螂 Eight Step Mantis — the branch, the eight steps, and the full curriculum

摘要一段 Zhai Yao Section 1 — carries 黑虎出洞 as posture 37

大翻車 Large Rolling Wheel — carries 黑虎出洞 as posture 28

Wei Xiaotang (衛笑堂) — the master who drilled it three years

Sources

[1] 衛笑堂 Wei Xiaotang, 實用螳螂拳 series (Yiwen 逸文 reprints) — the in-copyright primary source; cited, not reproduced.

[2] 松傳古藝武術學苑 (suntrans88.blogspot.com), Wei Xiaotang biography — the source for the "苦練三年 … 也是八步中的第八個步子又叫拖步三捶,拳出人倒" account: http://suntrans88.blogspot.com/2016/11/blog-post_34.html. The posture placements (摘要一段 #37, 大翻車 #28) are from the same lineage's published 拳譜.