The Taji Spear/Staff/Halbard

Yang Lu Chan, the founder of the Yang style of Taijiquan was famous for his use of
the spear and his feats with it are legendary. Traditionally this form was kept very
secret and only passed on to trusted students. Even in Yang Cheng Fu's time the two
man sticky spear sequence was taught but the full form was reserved for advanced
students. His book 'The Uses of Taijiquan' records the two man 'sticky spear' practice
and has some notes for solo practice.
The techniques of the Taiji spear can be applied to both
the staff and the halbard. There is an interesting story to
how the Taiji spear came to be transmitted as the Taiji
staff. Yang Ban Hou, the son of Yang Lu Chan was
always getting into fights and for fear that her son might
kill some one in advertantly, his mother cut off the spear
head of his spear so that he could only use it as long
staff. Yang Ban Hou was also very skilled with the spear as was his brother Yang
Feng Hou (he died early).
The Li manual only records a short spear sequence and Chen Yen Ling's book only a
short solo exercise with the staff. In a recent book recording the old Wu forms of
Yang Yu Ting, only a short solo sequence is shown also. The spear form has only
been described in detail in very recent history. The Yang Taiji spear consists of 41
postures. The spear forms of the other schools of Taijiquan have yet to be
comprehensively recorded.
Other solo exercises or short forms are known, some of them very short indeed but
still encompassing the major movements of the spear techniques. The spear
techniques are also applicable to the long staff and the halbard which is a kind of
spear with a crescent knife edge at one side.
The staff like all the Taiji arts consists mainly of 13 techniques, the are:
1) Open (Kai)
2) Close (He)
3) Burst (Beng)
4) Split (Pi)
5) Dot (Dian)
6) Bind (Za)
7) Poke (Bo)
8) Hold Up (Liao)
9) Coil (Chan)
10) Lead (Dai)
11) Slip (Hua)
12) Intercept (Jie)
13) Stab (Cuo)
The spear/staff used for this weapon is usually made of a kind of wood known as

'white wax wood' which is light in colour and springy in nature. Its length should be
about 2-2.5 metres and should be rather stout and tapering at one end. Hard wood
staffs can also be used.

Spear Set - 1
The following pictures came from the 1931 book by Yang Chen Fu. The man in the dark
clothes is T'ien Chao Ling who is shown as the #1 disciple of Yang Chen Fu in his book.
The man in the light clothes is Tung Ying Chieh who is shown as the #3 disciple of Yang
Chen Fu in his book.
They are performing the basic routines of the traditional Yang style spear set. They are
using staffs instead of spears. There is a story about that . . . (more later).
These sets are the same as was taught to a few of us in Honolulu in the early 1990's by
Dong Chen Zeng. My fellow student, Randy Kim, and I became the demonstration team
for our school in those years.
We were taught that the staff set was the most advanced weapon set and was the last to
be learned. My understanding is the Tung Ying Chieh did not practice all the weapons,
only the double edged sword (jian) and the staff (gun).
The first series
In this series the movements are basic. They are done in a kind of step by step fashion,
lightly and at a medium speed. This is used to get the players to know the movements in
their basic form.
First is a thrust to the throat

Then a thrust to the opponents heart or left shoulder

Then a thrust to the knee

And finally a thrust to the head

The Second Series

In this series the movements are more subtle. They are done in a circular flowing fashion,
similar in feeling to push hands, lightly and at a medium speed. You can also do them
fairly quickly. This series is used to get the players more adept at sticky energy and the
ability to listen through the staff.

The Third Series

In this series the movements are more advanced. They are done in a sharp and powerful
manner, at a quick speed. This is used to train the players in how to issue energy through
the staff and develops strong martial penetrating energy.
When Randy and I used to practice this set in Honolulu we began by using 8 foot long full
round fir poles (like you would find in a clothes closet). Rarely did a pole last the night,
however, as they usually broke within a few moves. We eventually ended up using
ironwood saplings that we cut from the forest in the hills above Kamehameha Schools in
Honolulu. Try as we might, we could not break these ironwood poles. (As a side note,
ironwood is so dense that it does not float in water. Those poles were heavy!)

The Fourth Series

At this point in the training, the players have learned the moves and the energy. Now is
the time to develop the skill at using all of this training. The moves below depict a basic
back and forth exercise that then led to a kind of free form controlled fighting. In this series
the movements are done in a variable manner, sometimes hard and fast, sometimes
slippery or sticky, etc.
Note that playing at this level is dangerous. You need a lot of trust in your partner, and
you need a good deal of skill to keep from hurting each other. The staff seems to amplify
the energy.
Randy and I used to have a lot of fun trying to figure out new ways to twist and wind and
slip by an incoming move in order to come back with an effective counter.

If you're interested, I've written a bit more about the staff. Click here to see the writings.

Spear Set - 2
(Click on the small image to load a larger version.)
The following pictures came from a book by a student of Dong Jun Ling, Brother of Tung
Hu Ling and teacher of Dong Zeng Chen. The man with the dark hair is Lin Bo Yan, a
disciple of Tung Ying Chieh. The man who appears bald is Tung Ying Chieh.

They are performing basic routines of the traditional Yang style spear set.

Here is a picture of Tung Ying Chieh performing the staff for a crowd in Thailand

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