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

The **Tiger-Tail Three-Section Staff** (**虎尾三節棍**, *Hǔwěi Sānjié Gùn*) is the **flexible-weapon** form of [**Seven Star Praying Mantis**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/seven-star-mantis) — three linked hardwood sections that fold, extend, and whip like a tiger's tail. Recorded by [**Wong Hon Fan**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/wong-hon-fan) of Shunde, "teacher [**Luo Guangyu**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/luo-guangyu) of Penglai, Shandong" (Hong Kong, July 1956), the complete set is **30 postures** — the shortest of the mantis weapon forms, but among the highest in skill ceiling.

## Character

The three-section staff is one of the hardest weapons in any Chinese system: the two outer sections swing free, controlled only by timing and feel, and a mistimed movement strikes the wielder rather than the target. The form alternates between **folded "short" configurations** (the sections gripped together, used like a single short staff) and **extended "long" whipping** that suddenly doubles the reach — the "tiger-tail" surprise. It demands the body-control built by the empty-hand and rigid-staff forms first.

## Representative postures

A selection from the 30 (the complete set is in Wong Hon Fan's manual, translated in full by Brennan — linked below):

| 中文 | English |
| --- | --- |
| 持棍中平式 | Holding the Middle of the Staff Horizontally |
| 跨虎低攔式 | Sitting Tiger, Downward Block |
| 背負蛟龍式 | Carrying the Flood Dragon on the Back |
| 魚翁撒網式 | Old Fisherman Casts His Net |
| 馬勢迴攔式 | Horse-Riding Stance, Turning Block |
| 蟠龍歸洞式 | Coiling Dragon Returns to Its Cave |

## See also

<PageRef space="notes" slug="mantis-liuhe-staff" text="Mantis Liuhe Staff (螳螂六合棍) — the rigid-staff foundation" />

<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), *虎尾三節棍* (Hong Kong, 1956), Seven-Star Mantis line of Luo Guangyu — full open English translation by Paul Brennan: [Tiger Tail Three-Section Staff](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2017/12/31/tiger-tail-three-section-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)).