Fifth Son's Eight-Trigrams Staff (五郎八卦棍) — the Yang-family staff in the mantis curriculum

The Fifth Son's Eight-Trigrams Staff (五郎八卦棍, Wǔláng Bāguà Gùn) is a famous long-staff (棍) form carried in the Seven Star Praying Mantis curriculum, recorded by Wong Hon Fan (Hong Kong, Zhencheng Bookstore, 1955). It runs to 74 postures in two parts (49 + 25). Unlike the house mantis staves, its legendary origin lies in the Yang family of generals: Yang Wulang (楊五郎), the "Fifth Son," who — in the Generals of the Yang Family sagas — survived the disaster at Golden Beach, became a monk at Mount Wutai, and is said to have developed a monastic staff method that spread into many northern systems.

Character

This is a widely-shared northern staff form — practiced across Hung Gar, Choy Li Fut, mantis, and other systems — so its presence in the mantis curriculum reflects the common pool of northern weapons as much as anything mantis-specific. The "eight trigrams" in the name points to its eight-direction stepping. Where it enters the mantis line, the house stamps it with its own identity: the posture 螳螂探爪 ("Mantis Extends a Claw") is pure mantis vocabulary grafted onto the Yang-family frame.

Representative postures

A selection from the 74 (the complete two-part sequence is in Wong Hon Fan's manual, translated in full by Brennan — linked below):

See also

Mantis Liuhe Staff (螳螂六合棍) — the house six-harmony staff

Tiger-Tail Three-Section Staff (虎尾三節棍) — the flexible-staff form

Seven Star Mantis (七星螳螂拳) — the parent branch

Mantis Canon — the full index of Wong Hon Fan forms in open English

Praying Mantis (螳螂拳) — the parent system

Sources

[1] 黃漢勛 (Wong Hon Fan), 五郎八卦棍 (Hong Kong: 鎮成書局, 1955), as carried in the Seven-Star Mantis curriculum — full open English translation by Paul Brennan: Fifth Son's 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).