Yang family Taiji originally trained in both the big and small flower spears. The “big spear” set is the Taiji big spear 13 movements set, and the “little flower” spear set is the Taiji spear 24 movements set. Both spear sets were developed from the six harmonies large spear and Yang Family (Song Dynasty) Pear Blossom Spear. These original Taiji spear sets are trained in both Yang Banhou and Wu/Hao lineages.
In Li Yiyu’s handwritten manuals (Li Yiyu was a nephew of Wu Yuxiang the founder of Wu/Hao Taiji Quan), it contains the names of the 13 big spear movements as follows:
- Single Ward-Off Staff.
- Green Dragon Emerges From Water.
- Child Praying to Guan Yin.
- Hungry Tiger Pounces On Prey.
- Blocking Road Tiger.
- Bend Step
- Diagonal Posture.
- Wind Sweeps The Plum Blossoms.
- Center Soldiers Send Troops.
- Veteran Bird Returns To Nest.
- Pull Staff Defeating Posture.
- Agile Cat Catching Mouse.
- Hand Playing Lute Posture.
Later, the big spearhead was removed, leaving only the long pole, which was about 3 1/2 meters long. The long pole was mainly used to open, close, and for pressing and shaking for power (Gong Li) training.
The Taiji spear 24 movements used the little flower spear. It was used to train the 13 methods of Taiji spear, such as opening, closing, burst (Beng), split (Pi), and coil (Chan), etc.