---
title: 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)**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/wong-hon-fan) in **1947**. Unlike the single-hand sabre of [Yan Qing's Single Saber](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/yan-qing-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.

| # | 中文 | Working gloss |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 捧刀中平式 | Cradle the saber, level posture |
| 2 | 四平舉刀式 | Four-level stance, raised saber |
| 3 | 登山斬倭顱 | Mountain-climbing, behead the wokou |
| 4 | 蹤步斬倭顱 | Leaping step, behead the wokou |
| 5 | 扑腿橫斬馬 | Pouncing leg, horizontal horse-cleaving cut |
| 6 | 竄跳橫斬馬 | Darting leap, horizontal horse-cleaving cut |
| 7 | 跨虎雙舉刀 | Riding-tiger, double raised saber |
| 8 | 蹤步斬倭顱 | Leaping step, behead the wokou |
| 9 | 旋轉坐盤刀 | Spinning, sitting-coil saber |
| 10 | 纏繞斬倭顱 | Coiling, behead the wokou |
| 11 | 漏刀攔腰斬 | Slipping saber, cut across the waist |
| 12 | 竄跳迎頭砍 | Darting leap, head-on chop |
| 13 | 竄跳迎頭砍 | Darting leap, head-on chop |
| 14 | 斜步舉刀式 | Diagonal step, raised saber |
| 15 | 蹤步斬倭顱 | Leaping step, behead the wokou |
| 16 | 旋轉往上挑 | Spinning, upward flicking cut |
| 17 | 反身坐盤刀 | Turning body, sitting-coil saber |
| 18 | 纏繞大轉勢 | Coiling, great turning posture |
| 19 | 纔繞大轉勢 | Coiling, great turning posture |
| 20 | 撤步迎頭斬 | Withdrawing step, head-on cleave |
| 21 | 挑刀蹤步劈 | Flick the saber, leaping-step chop |
| 22 | 挑刀蹤步劈 | Flick the saber, leaping-step chop |
| 23 | 跨虎橫撥刀 | Riding-tiger, horizontal deflecting saber |
| 24 | 反刀斬倭顱 | Reverse saber, behead the wokou |
| 25 | 纏繞攔腰斬 | Coiling, cut across the waist |
| 26 | 斜步舉刀式 | Diagonal step, raised saber |
| 27 | 蹤步斬倭顱 | Leaping step, behead the wokou |
| 28 | 纏繞大轉勢 | Coiling, great turning posture |
| 29 | 纏繞大轉勢 | Coiling, great turning posture |
| 30 | 撤步迎頭砍 | Withdrawing step, head-on chop |
| 31 | 四平舉刀式 | Four-level stance, raised saber |
| 32 | 收刀四平式 | Sheathe the saber, four-level posture (closing) |

## 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)**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/qi-jiguang), 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](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/foreign-challengers)). 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](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2018/04/12/large-saber-techniques-for-the-army/).

## See also

<PageRef space="notes" slug="seven-star-mantis" text="七星螳螂 Seven Star Mantis — branch context" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="mantis-forms" text="Mantis Forms — the script-and-video map of every form" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="yan-qing-single-saber" text="燕青單刀 Yan Qing Single Saber — the single-hand sabre form" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="qi-jiguang" text="Qi Jiguang (戚繼光) — the Ming general of the anti-wokou saber tradition" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="mantis-canon-english-translations" text="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](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2018/04/12/large-saber-techniques-for-the-army/). The 32-posture solo sequence follows Brennan's edition.