---
title: Eight Elbows (分身八肘) — Taiji Plum-Blossom Mantis
---

**分身八肘 (Fēnshēn Bāzhǒu, "Splitting-Body Eight Elbows")** is one of the **three root forms of the entire Praying Mantis art** — the elbow-method masterwork preserved in **梁學香 (Liang Xuexiang)**'s Daoguang-era manual *可使有勇* and codified by the **Hao family (郝家)** in the *太極梅花螳螂拳譜*. It is the signature solo form of the [**Taiji Plum-Blossom (Laiyang) line**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/taiji-plum-blossom-mantis), and an almost *pure elbow form*: across its **four sections (四段)** and **69 postures**, the elbow (肘) appears in nearly every movement — upturning, blocking, embracing, planting, jerking, clubbing, rolling-dragon, and the joint-locking *金龍合口 ("golden dragon shuts its mouth")*.

The name "splitting body" (分身) points to the form's method of **dividing the body left and right**, working both elbows independently as the stance turns.

## The form — four sections (四段)

The posture names follow the **郝家《太極梅花螳螂拳譜》"分身八肘"四段譜** as transcribed in the mainland Laiyang sources (柳國順 · 万廣義). They are given in the **simplified characters** of that edition; the bare name-list is reproduced under fair-use citation, with the wiki's own working glosses. Eight-Elbows names are descriptive — a chain of elbow actions per movement.

### Section 1 (第一段) — 20 postures

| # | 式 (中文) | English |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 初行手 | Opening movement |
| 2 | 左臂肩腆肘 | Left forearm-shoulder upturning elbow |
| 3 | 扭步扭仰隔肘 | Twisting, step, twisting, upturned, blocking elbow |
| 4 | 左采右扑肘 | Left, seizing, right, pouncing, elbow |
| 5 | 左右二臂肘 | Left-and-right, double forearm elbow |
| 6 | 左右围回臂肘 | Left-and-right, circling-back forearm elbow |
| 7 | 右攒挑抱肘 | Right, gathering, lifting embrace, elbow |
| 8 | 右封左插肘 | Right, sealing, left, inserting elbow |
| 9 | 左右双盘肘 | Left-and-right, double, coiling elbow |
| 10 | 左外右里双圈肘 | Left, outer, right, inner, double, circling elbow |
| 11 | 右隔右栽肘 | Right, blocking, right, planting elbow |
| 12 | 左投捶右扽肘 | Left, throwing punch, right, jerking elbow |
| 13 | 右补捶 | Right, filling punch |
| 14 | 双封双扑肘 | Double seal, double, pouncing, elbow |
| 15 | 左插掌 | Left, inserting, palm |
| 16 | 右打滚龙肘 | Right, striking, rolling-dragon elbow |
| 17 | 左盘肘 | Left, coiling elbow |
| 18 | 右腆肘 | Right, upturning elbow |
| 19 | 金龙合口双梆肘 | Golden dragon shuts its mouth, double clubbing elbow |
| 20 | 双封双梆肘 | Double seal, double, clubbing elbow |

### Section 2 (第二段) — 16 postures

| # | 式 (中文) | English |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 上下双圈肘 | Upper, lower, double, circling elbow |
| 2 | 左封右打歪梁肘 | Left, sealing, right, striking, crooked-beam elbow |
| 3 | 右采左打下跟掀肘 | Right, seizing, left, striking, downward-following heaving elbow |
| 4 | 左采右隔肘 | Left, seizing, right, blocking elbow |
| 5 | 右挂左打迎面捶 | Right, hanging, left, striking, face-on, punch |
| 6 | 金龙合口 | Golden dragon shuts its mouth |
| 7 | 左打梆点抱肘 | Left, striking, clubbing-point embracing elbow |
| 8 | 右采左扑捶 | Right, seizing, left, pouncing, punch |
| 9 | 左右二横肘 | Left-and-right, double horizontal elbow |
| 10 | 扑左隔肘 | Pouncing, left, blocking elbow |
| 11 | 上路捶 | Upper, road, punch |
| 12 | 扑右隔肘 | Pouncing, right, blocking elbow |
| 13 | 下路捶 | Lower, road, punch |
| 14 | 硬起隔肘至底 | Hard rising, blocking elbow, to the floor |
| 15 | 左右二至膝隔肘 | Left-and-right, double knee-height blocking elbow |
| 16 | 右穿捶 | Right, threading punch |

### Section 3 (第三段) — 17 postures

| # | 式 (中文) | English |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 左挑捶 | Left, lifting, punch |
| 2 | 围回竭肘 | Circling-back exhausting elbow |
| 3 | 上下半圈肘 | Upper, lower, half-circling elbow |
| 4 | 左封右窝肘 | Left, sealing, right, tucked elbow |
| 5 | 右封双窝肘 | Right, sealing, double, tucked elbow |
| 6 | 左展右砸右崩右撞肘 | Left, spreading, right, smashing, right, avalanche, right, ramming elbow |
| 7 | 右起朝天捶 | Right, rising, punch toward heaven |
| 8 | 偷右步左外圈捶 | Stealing, right, step, left, outer, circling punch |
| 9 | 右打窜街挑肘 | Right, striking, darting-through lifting elbow |
| 10 | 双腆连环肘 | Double, upturning, linked elbow |
| 11 | 后作霸王拉弓势 | Back, making, the Tyrant draws the bow, posture |
| 12 | 连环错捶 | Linked, ring, crossing punch |
| 13 | 双封推积肘 | Double seal, pushing stacking elbow |
| 14 | 右打振窝肘 | Right, striking, shaking tucked elbow |
| 15 | 连环错掌 | Linked, ring, crossing palm |
| 16 | 双封左展斜圈捶 | Double seal, left, spreading, diagonal circling punch |
| 17 | 右梁右错捶 | Right, beam, right, crossing punch |

### Section 4 (第四段) — 16 postures

| # | 式 (中文) | English |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 右挑右砸右展外量捶 | Right, lifting, right, smashing, right, spreading, outer measuring punch |
| 2 | 迎天一积臂肘 | Facing, heaven, one, stacking forearm elbow |
| 3 | 反身后打翻车捶 | Turning back, back, striking, rolling-wheel punch |
| 4 | 跟左脚左圈捶 | Following, left, kick, left, circling punch |
| 5 | 双螳螂跟右脚右叠肘 | Double mantis, following, right, kick, right, stacked elbow |
| 6 | 偷右步左右圈捶 | Stealing, right, step, left-and-right, circling punch |
| 7 | 右封右腆肘 | Right, sealing, right, upturning elbow |
| 8 | 顺送下盘肘 | Follow and send, lower, coiling elbow |
| 9 | 左挑捶 | Left, lifting, punch |
| 10 | 左转肘 | Left, turning elbow |
| 11 | 双封双盘肘 | Double seal, double, coiling elbow |
| 12 | 左展右采打右樵 | Left, spreading, right, seizing, striking, right, chopping |
| 13 | 双分双抄坐基肘 | Double, parting, double, skim, seated-base elbow |
| 14 | 右勾左打急挑捶 | Right, hooking, left, striking, urgent, lifting, punch |
| 15 | 左叫右插捶 | Left, calling, right, inserting punch |
| 16 | 左穿外梁捶 | Left, threading, outer, beam, punch |

## Place in the art

Liang Xuexiang's manual preserved **three** root forms of the Wang-Lang mantis tradition — **分身八肘 (Splitting-Body Eight Elbows), 亂接 (Random Interception), and 秘手 (Secret Hands)**. Of these, 分身八肘 is the elbow curriculum: it banks the close-range elbow vocabulary that the branch's longer forms (摘要, 崩補) then deploy. It is distinct from the **Seven Star** branch's own [Eight Elbows (八肘)](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/eight-elbows-form) — same lineage root, separately transmitted.

## Videos

Demonstrations of the Hao-family and Laiyang (王玉山 / 李飛林) Taiji-Mantis material appear on the branch's video sources — see the [Praying Mantis on Film](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/mantis-video) index. A single lineage-authoritative demo of this exact four-section script was not separately confirmed at publication.

## See also

<PageRef space="notes" slug="taiji-plum-blossom-mantis" text="太極梅花螳螂 Taiji Plum-Blossom Mantis — the branch, lineage, and character" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="eight-elbows-form" text="八肘 Eight Elbows (Seven Star) — the separately-transmitted sibling" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="jiang-hualong" text="Jiang Hualong (姜化龍) — the great transmitter at the root of this branch" />

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

## Sources

**[1]** 梁學香 (Liang Xuexiang), *可使有勇* (Daoguang era) — the foundational manual preserving the Wang-Lang material (分身八肘 / 亂接 / 秘手); public domain by age. 郝恆祿 (Hao Henglu, d. 1934), *太極梅花螳螂拳譜* — the Hao-family codification from which this four-section 谱 derives; public domain by age.

**[2]** 柳國順 · 万廣義, *"分身八肘" 解讀* (《武魂》2010 年第 3 期) — the mainland transcription of the Hao 四段譜 used here; the bare posture-name list is reproduced under fair-use citation with the wiki's own glosses (the article's descriptive text is **not** reproduced).