---
title: Eight-Trigrams Saber (八卦單刀) — Seven Star Mantis
---

**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)**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/wong-hon-fan) in **1958**. It is one of the standard [**Jingwu (精武 / Chin Woo)**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/jingwu) 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](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/yan-qing-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](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2023/07/31/jingwu-eight-trigrams-saber/).

## 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 branch's own sabre form" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="jingwu" text="The Jingwu (精武 / Chin Woo) — the movement whose standard saber this is" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="mantis-canon-english-translations" text="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](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2023/07/31/jingwu-eight-trigrams-saber/). The 56-posture sequence follows Brennan's edition.