Month: June 2025

Taiji sabre (刀 dāo) – the Yang set

Posted on by Michael Lavocah

The Yang sabre set does not have a list of moves as such but instead a 13 line poem (口訣 kǒu jue “spoken arts”) which was recited during practice. Each line has seven characters. This poem is recorded in Fu Zhongwen’s 1958 treatise on the Taiji sabre and earlier in Dong Yingjie’s Tai Chi Boxing Explained (1948).

The movements of the Yang sabre set

  1. 七星跨虎交刀势 Qī xīng kuà hǔ jiāo dāo shì – Seven Stars, Mount the Tiger, Pass the Sabre Posture
  2. 腾挪闪展意气扬 Téng nuó shǎn zhǎn yì qi yáng – Spring clear, evade and strike, Will and Spirit Raised
  3. 左顾右盼两分张 Zuǒgù yòupàn liǎng fēn zhāng – Looking Left, Gazing Right, the Two Components Spread
  4. 白鹤亮翅五行掌 Bái hè liàng chì wǔháng zhǎng – White Crane Spreads Wings, Five Element Palm
  5. 风卷荷花叶里藏 Fēng juǎn héhuā yè lǐ cáng – Breezes Turn the Lotus Blossom, Hide it in the Leaves.
  6. 玉女穿梭八方势 Yùnǚ chuān suō bā fāng shi – Jade Maidens Work Shuttles Facing Eight Directions
  7. 三星开合自主张 Sān xīng kāi hé zìzhǔ zhāng – Three Stars Open Close, Freely and Naturally
  8. 二起脚来打虎势 Èr qǐ jiǎo lái dǎ hǔ shi – Strike the Tiger with Both Feet
  9. 披身斜挂鸳鸯脚 Pī shēn xié guà yuānyāng jiǎo – Drape Body, Hang Aslant, Mandarin Duck Kick
  10. 顺水推舟鞭做篙 Shùn shuǐ tuī zhōu biān zuò gāo – With the Current, Push the Boat, Lift Whip, Use as Quant
  11. 下势三合自由招 Xià shì sān hé zìyóu zhāo – Lower Posture, Three Harmonies, Freely Move
  12. 左右分水龙门跳 Zuǒyòu fēn shuǐ lóngmén tiào – Left Right Part the Waters, Jump the Dragon Gate
  13. 卞和携石凤还巢 Biàn hé xié shí fèng hái cháo – Bian-He Retrieves his Stone, Phoenix Returns to Nest

The set we practice has the same first move but then diverges. In particular, the phrases “Lower Body to Tame Tiger” and “The Beauty Runs to the Moon” do not occur anywhere. (Could the latter phrase allude to the legend of Chang’e, who stole the elixir of immortality from the Queen Mother of the West and flew to the moon (嫦娥奔月) )? The very existence of these terms implies that Mr Moy modified a different set than the one handed down through Fu Zhongwen. I can’t find out anything about it. “Taming the Tiger” is the name of one of the standing postures in Yiquan; one feels the influence of Mr Moy’s Lok Hup teacher Master Liang, but with no evidence. Our set displays a clear influence in its stepping patterns from Ba-gua. An additional minor difference is that the jumps have been removed.

Comments on the moves of the Yang set

1: 七星跨虎交刀势 Qī xīng kuà hǔ jiāo dāo shì – Seven Stars, Mount the Tiger, Pass the Sabre Posture – The Chinese, here as elsewhere, clearly says mount the tiger and not ride the tiger. This seeming small difference informs our intention as we step back with the right foot.

7: 三星开合自主张 Sān xīng kāi hé zìzhǔ zhāng – Three Stars Open Close, Freely and Naturally. What are the three stars? According to Zhang Yun they are the laogong point (in the centre of your palm, PC8), the “bubbling spring” yongquan (K-1 in your foot) and the quchi point on your elbow (LI-11). The stars open when the arms are extended, and closed when the arms draw back together.

Completely irrelevant, but interesting nevertheless, because it shows the enduring popularity of the term: in Korean, Sān xīng becomes “Samsung”.

9 披身斜挂鸳鸯脚 Pī shēn xié guà yuānyāng jiǎo – Drape Body, Hang Aslant, Mandarin Duck Kick – what is the Mandarin duck kick? Mandarin ducks are known for forming lasting pairs, so the reference is to a pair of movements. Zhang Yun elucidates that originally there were two kicks, first a side kick and then the forward kick, but that the the first kick has been removed.

10 顺水推舟鞭做篙 Shùn shuǐ tuī zhōu biān zuò gāo – With the Current, Push the Boat, Lift Whip, Use as Quant – the sabre is lifted high as if lifting a whip, and then the handle is brought down in a two handed grip as if punting. The correct English word for a punt-pole is a quant. No-one uses it when translating the name of this move into English but avoiding it leads to translations which are at best awkward, and at worst nonsensical (“take whip as oar”). Alternatively, one could just say “Punt“.

12 左右分水龙门跳 Zuǒyòu fēn shuǐ lóngmén tiào – Left Right Part the Waters, Jump the Dragon Gate. Here the rolling upward cuts are compared to the movement of carp, swimming powerfully like salmon up the rapids of the Yellow River known as the Dragon Gate. It was said that any carp who managed to “jump the dragon gate” would be turned into a dragon as a reward for his efforts.

13 卞和携石凤还巢 Biàn hé xié shí fèng hái cháo – Bian-He Retrieves his Stone, Phoenix Returns to Nest – Bian-He found a stone which he was convinced contained a wonderful piece of jade. According to legend he presented the stone to King Wu and then (after Wu’s death) to King Wên, but both men rejected him, and he had a foot cut off each time as a punishment for lying. Finally the stone was brought to King Ch’êng who believed his story and had the stone cut, revealing the precious jade inside. It was made into a jade annulus (bi), Mr He’s jade or Heshibi. According to legend, this bi was so magnificent that it was turned into the Heirloom Seal of the Realm. In the set, the words xié shí (Retrieve the Stone) are chanted as the sabre is returned to the crook of the left elbow. The name of the movement implies that the stone is returned to Bian-He.

In mythology the phoenix returns to its nest in order to be consumed by the flames which will give birth to the next phoenix. This is considered a perfect sacrifice. Referencing the phoenix at the end of the set brings to a close a set well done.

Here’s a video of the Yang style set being performed by Tary Yip. There’s also a Chinese video of Fu Qingquan (grandson of Fu Zhongwen) teaching this set to two students as if in a movie.

References

Videos

Books and articles