---
title: Mantis Liuhe Staff (螳螂六合棍) — the Six-Harmony Staff
---

The **Mantis Six-Harmony Staff** (**螳螂六合棍**, *Tánglàng Liùhé Gùn*) is one of the principal **long-staff (棍)** forms of [**Seven Star Praying Mantis**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/seven-star-mantis). Recorded by [**Wong Hon Fan**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/wong-hon-fan) and serialized in Hong Kong's *Chinese Boxing Magazine* (武術雜誌) across 1956–57, the set runs to **80 postures** — among the longer staff routines in his curriculum. The **"six harmonies" (六合)** in the name is the same coordination principle that governs the empty-hand boxing: the unity of hand–foot, elbow–knee, and shoulder–hip, here projected out to the tip of the staff.

## Character

The staff is the "grandfather of weapons" and the foundation of all the long-weapon training; mantis staff work keeps the art's close, sticking quality even at range, with rapid changes of grip and line, avalanche-style downward strikes, and the coiling blocks that turn an opponent's thrust aside before answering. The frequent **spear-crushing** images in the posture names (the staff used against a spear) reflect the battlefield logic the form preserves.

## Representative postures

A selection from the 80 (the complete sequence is in Wong Hon Fan's serialized manual, translated in full by Brennan — linked below):

| 中文 | English |
| --- | --- |
| 背立舉刀 | Standing with Your Back Turned, Raising a Saber |
| 崩打一棒 | Cudgeling with an Avalanche Strike |
| 跨虎軋槍 | Sitting-Tiger Stance, Crushing a Spear |
| 老僧穿衣 | Old Monk Puts on His Robe |
| 黑虎下山 | Black Tiger Bounds Down the Mountain |
| 旋轉纏攔 | Turn Around, Coiling Block |
| 挾棒中平 | Embrace the Cudgel, Standing Stably |

## See also

<PageRef space="notes" slug="tiger-tail-three-section-staff" text="Tiger-Tail Three-Section Staff (虎尾三節棍) — the flexible-staff form" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="fifth-sons-staff" text="Fifth Son's Eight-Trigrams Staff (五郎八卦棍) — the other major mantis staff" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="seven-star-mantis" text="Seven Star Mantis (七星螳螂拳) — the parent branch" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="mantis-canon-english-translations" text="Mantis Canon — the full index of Wong Hon Fan forms in open English" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="praying-mantis" text="Praying Mantis (螳螂拳) — the parent system" />

## Sources

**[1]** 黃漢勛 (Wong Hon Fan), *螳螂六合棍*, serialized in *武術雜誌* (Hong Kong, 1956–57), Seven-Star Mantis line of Luo Guangyu — full open English translation by Paul Brennan: [Mantis Liuhe Staff](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2021/01/26/mantis-liuhe-staff/). Brennan's translation is in copyright; linked, not reproduced.

**[2]** *Praying Mantis Master Wong Hon Fan Collection*, Chinese University of Hong Kong Library ([repository.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/collection/whf](https://repository.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/collection/whf)).