Notes
Eight-Trigrams Saber (八卦單刀) — Seven Star Mantis
On this page
八卦單刀 (Bāguà Dāndāo, "Eight-Trigrams Single Saber") is a single-sabre form in the Seven Star Praying Mantis weapons curriculum, published by Wong Hon Fan (黃漢勛) in 1958. It is one of the standard Jingwu (精武 / Chin Woo) weapon routines — part of the shared curriculum the Chin Woo Association spread nationwide — which Wong, a Chin Woo instructor, set down in the mantis line. Where Yan Qing's Single Saber is the branch's own sabre, this is the Jingwu sabre carried into it.
What it trains
The full sabre vocabulary — chopping (劈), upward flick (撩 / 倒撩), straight and diagonal thrusts (直刺 / 斜刺), reverse draw-cuts (反抽), and flinging cuts (撇) — cycled through the eight directions the name evokes
Turning-body continuity (翻身) — the form's engine is the repeated 翻身 ("turn the body") that re-orients the blade across the trigram circle, keeping the sabre live through constant changes of facing
Sabre-and-hand coordination — the off hand cradles, threads (穿掌), and "embraces the moon" (懷中抱月) to control the line while the blade works
Counting cuts — the 一刀／二刀／三刀 ("first, second, third saber") drawing-step series drills clean, sequential cutting on a moving base
Full posture script — 56 postures
The bare posture-name list from Wong Hon Fan's 八卦單刀 (1958), reproduced under fair-use citation; English are the wiki's own working glosses. As is normal for weapon forms, many names recur.
# | 中文 | Working gloss |
|---|---|---|
1 | 抱刀中平 | Cradle the saber, level posture |
2 | 美人照鏡 | A beauty gazes in the mirror |
3 | 齊掌中平 | Level palm, level posture |
4 | 四平獻刀 | Four-level stance, present the saber |
5 | 換手獻刀 | Change hands, present the saber |
6 | 蹤步劈刀 | Leaping step, chopping saber |
7 | 囬刀倒撩 | Returning saber, reverse upward-flick |
8 | 偷步抱頭 | Stealing step, cradle the head |
9 | 登山劈刀 | Mountain-climbing, chopping saber |
10 | 登山倒撩 | Mountain-climbing, reverse upward-flick |
11 | 橫刀坐盤 | Horizontal saber, sitting-coil stance |
12 | 登山倒撩 | Mountain-climbing, reverse upward-flick |
13 | 跨虎反抽 | Riding-tiger, reverse draw-cut |
14 | 懷中抱月 | Embrace the moon to the chest |
15 | 提步直刺 | Lifting step, straight thrust |
16 | 翻身低撇 | Turn the body, low flinging cut |
17 | 翻身馬勢 | Turn the body, horse stance |
18 | 抱頭攔刀 | Cradle the head, blocking saber |
19 | 跨虎藏刀 | Riding-tiger, hide the saber |
20 | 翻身低撇 | Turn the body, low flinging cut |
21 | 翻身登山 | Turn the body, mountain-climbing |
22 | 馬勢平刺 | Horse stance, level thrust |
23 | 虛步提刀 | Empty step, lift the saber |
24 | 拉步一刀 | Drawing step, first cut |
25 | 拉步二刀 | Drawing step, second cut |
26 | 拉步三刀 | Drawing step, third cut |
27 | 偷步抱月 | Stealing step, embrace the moon |
28 | 偷步直刺 | Stealing step, straight thrust |
29 | 翻身掠翼 | Turn the body, sweep the wing |
30 | 登山穿掌 | Mountain-climbing, threading palm |
31 | 翻身馬勢 | Turn the body, horse stance |
32 | 藏刀雙飛 | Hide the saber, double flying |
33 | 翻身登山 | Turn the body, mountain-climbing |
34 | 馬勢平刺 | Horse stance, level thrust |
35 | 翻身反撩 | Turn the body, reverse upward-flick |
36 | 馬勢掠翼 | Horse stance, sweep the wing |
37 | 跨虎反抽 | Riding-tiger, reverse draw-cut |
38 | 拉刀坐盤 | Draw the saber, sitting-coil stance |
39 | 翻身馬勢 | Turn the body, horse stance |
40 | 穿刀提步 | Threading saber, lifting step |
41 | 抱月疾走 | Embrace the moon, rushing step |
42 | 登山斜刺 | Mountain-climbing, diagonal thrust |
43 | 拉刀坐盤 | Draw the saber, sitting-coil stance |
44 | 登山斜劈 | Mountain-climbing, diagonal chop |
45 | 跨虎反抽 | Riding-tiger, reverse draw-cut |
46 | 懷中抱月 | Embrace the moon to the chest |
47 | 提步直刺 | Lifting step, straight thrust |
48 | 翻身低撇 | Turn the body, low flinging cut |
49 | 翻身登山 | Turn the body, mountain-climbing |
50 | 馬勢掠翼 | Horse stance, sweep the wing |
51 | 跨虎反抽 | Riding-tiger, reverse draw-cut |
52 | 拉刀坐盤 | Draw the saber, sitting-coil stance |
53 | 翻身登山 | Turn the body, mountain-climbing |
54 | 翻身低撇 | Turn the body, low flinging cut |
55 | 翻身馬勢 | Turn the body, horse stance |
56 | 拉刀還刀 | Draw and return the saber (closing) |
Place in the curriculum
A standard Jingwu sabre that the Wong-line absorbed; trained alongside the branch's own 燕青單刀. The "eight trigrams" of the name points to the eight directions the form rotates through rather than to Baguazhang.
Open English translation
Paul Brennan, "Jingwu Eight-Trigrams Saber" (2023) — full bilingual translation with the original photographs: brennantranslation.wordpress.com.
See also
七星螳螂 Seven Star Mantis — branch context
Mantis Forms — the script-and-video map of every form
燕青單刀 Yan Qing Single Saber — the branch's own sabre form
The Jingwu (精武 / Chin Woo) — the movement whose standard saber this is
Mantis Canon — full Brennan index including all the weapons forms
Sources
[1] Wong Hon Fan, 八卦單刀 (Hong Kong, 1958) — the published manual; the posture script above is the bare form-name list reproduced under fair-use citation, with the wiki's own glosses.
[2] Paul Brennan (tr.), "Jingwu Eight-Trigrams Saber" / 八卦單刀 (2023) — open-access English: brennantranslation.wordpress.com. The 56-posture sequence follows Brennan's edition.
Details
- Section:
- Notes
- Updated:
- 2026-06-08
More in this section