Army Large Saber (軍中大刀術) — Seven Star Mantis

軍中大刀術 (Jūnzhōng Dàdāo Shù, "Large-Saber Techniques for the Army") is the two-handed big-saber (大刀) form of the Seven Star Praying Mantis weapons curriculum, published by Wong Hon Fan (黃漢勛) in 1947. Unlike the single-hand sabre of Yan Qing's Single Saber, this is the heavy dàdāo — the long-hilted military chopping blade — and the form is openly a battlefield routine: its signature posture, repeated six times through the set, is 斬倭顱 ("behead the wokou"), naming the Japanese coastal raiders (倭寇) the big-saber tradition was forged against.

What it trains

• Two-handed power chopping — the dàdāo is swung from the whole body and both arms; the form drills the long, committed 斬 (cleaving cut) and 砍 (chop) that the lighter sabre cannot deliver

• Coiling transitions (纏繞) — between cuts the blade winds and re-aims through 纏繞大轉勢 ("coiling, great turning posture"), keeping the heavy weapon in continuous motion rather than stopping to reset

• Stance-rooted cutting — every cut is married to a stance (登山 mountain-climbing, 跨虎 riding-tiger, 坐盤 sitting-coil, 扑腿 pouncing-leg), so the blade's weight is delivered through a grounded base

• Lines of attack — head (迎頭砍), waist (攔腰斬), and the low horse-cleaving sweep (橫斬馬, echoing the historical 斬馬刀 anti-cavalry saber)

Full posture script — 32 postures

The bare posture-name list from Wong Hon Fan's 軍中大刀術 (1947), reproduced under fair-use citation; English are the wiki's own working glosses. Wong presents the 32-posture solo form first and then a two-person application (saber against weapon) re-numbered against the same postures — only the solo set is listed here. As is normal for weapon forms, several names recur.

The big saber and the "behead the wokou" theme

The 大刀 (dàdāo) — a broad, heavy, long-hilted chopping blade swung in both hands — is the iconic Chinese military saber. Its lineage runs from the Ming anti-pirate campaigns of Qi Jiguang (戚繼光), who drilled coastal troops against the 倭寇 (wōkòu, "Japanese raiders"), through to the Republican-era 大刀隊 ("Big-Sword units") who carried the same weapon against Japanese forces at the Great Wall in 1933 (see Foreign Strongmen, the Jingwu & the Big-Sword Army). Wong Hon Fan publishing an explicitly military big-saber form in 1947 sits squarely in that tradition — and the recurring 斬倭顱 ("behead the wokou") posture names it outright. Wokou is the historical term for the Japanese (and mixed) pirates who raided the Ming coast; the gloss is given as the period source intends it, not as modern commentary.

Place in the curriculum

A heavy-weapon form, trained after the lighter sabre and staff. It is the mantis curriculum's representative of the battlefield dàdāo, distinct from the duelling single sabre (燕青單刀) and the paired sabres (六合雙刀).

Open English translation

• Paul Brennan, "Large Saber Techniques for the Army" (2018) — full bilingual translation with the original photographs and the two-person application: 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 single-hand sabre form

Qi Jiguang (戚繼光) — the Ming general of the anti-wokou saber tradition

Mantis Canon — full Brennan index including all the weapons forms

Sources

[1] Wong Hon Fan, 軍中大刀術 (Hong Kong, 1947) — 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.), "Large Saber Techniques for the Army" / 軍中大刀術 (2018) — open-access English: brennantranslation.wordpress.com. The 32-posture solo sequence follows Brennan's edition.