Classica Sinica Medica

皮部

pí bù

Skin regions · pi bu

Also rendered: Skin regions (this site; the surface allotted to each channel, named after the parts of a door) · Cutaneous regions (the usual modern acupuncture term for the same twelve)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-10-02

At a glance

Pinyin
pí bù
Simplified
皮部
Literal
皮 pí — the skin, the surface: 《說文》 gives 皮 as 剝取獸革者謂之皮, what is stripped from a beast, and the living surface of the body takes its name from that stripping. 部 bù — a division, a commandery: 《說文》 has it as a place name in 天水, 天水狄部, and the sense the Suwen wants is the derived one, the portion allotted to something. Put together, the word is not the skin as a substance but the skin as an address — the patch of surface that belongs to a channel. Chapter 56 says so in its first answer: 欲知皮部以經脉爲紀者，諸經皆然, to know the skin regions, take the channel vessels as what marks them out.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：「皮，剝取獸革者謂之皮」；「部，天水狄部」，引申為分部、部署之部。「皮」讀 pí、**本篇9見**；「部」讀 bù、**本篇14見，讀 bù**；「欲」讀 yù、**「欲知皮部」之欲讀 yù，本篇1見**；「知」讀 zhī、**本篇1見**；「以」讀 yǐ、**本篇2見**；「經」讀 jīng、**「經脉」之經讀 jīng，本篇17見**；「脉」讀 mài、**本篇10見**；「爲」讀 wéi、**「爲紀」之爲讀 wéi，本篇1見**；「紀」讀 jì、**「經紀」「爲紀」之紀讀 jì，本篇2見**；「諸」讀 zhū、**本篇2見**；「皆」讀 jiē、**本篇10見**；「然」讀 rán、**本篇3見**；「凡」讀 fán、**本篇1見**；「十」讀 shí、「二」讀 èr、**「十二」讀 shí èr**；「絡」讀 luò、**「絡脉」之絡讀 luò，本篇25見**；「者」讀 zhě、**本篇13見**；「之」讀 zhī、**本篇20見**；「也」讀 yě、**本篇16見**；「别」讀 bié、**「别其分部」之别讀 bié，為「別」之俗字，本篇1見**；「分」讀 fēn、**「分部」讀 fēn bù，本篇3見**；「上」讀 shàng、「下」讀 xià、**「上下同法」讀 shàng xià**；「同」讀 tóng、**本篇6見**；「法」讀 fǎ、**本篇6見**

In brief

The twelve regions into which the surface of the body is divided, each one belonging to a channel and taking its name from a part of a door: 害蜚 for the yang brilliance, 樞持 for the lesser yang, 關樞 for the greater yang, 樞儒 for the lesser yin, 害肩 for the heart master, 關蟄 for the greater yin. Hand and foot share one rule — 上下同法 — so the twelve are spoken of as six. The regions are not an anatomy but an address: read what lies within them and you read the channel they belong to, and the order in which an evil travels inward is an order through them, from skin to network vessel to conduit to depot. Chapter 56 is the only place in the Suwen where the doctrine is set out as a whole.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 皮部
皮者身之表（《說文》「剝取獸革者謂之皮」）；部者分部（《說文》本為地名，引申為部屬）
欲知皮部以經脉爲紀者 — Suwen 56
2
What marks them out 欲知皮部以經脉爲紀者，諸經皆然
皮之部分，以經脉為綱紀；十二經皆同此法
欲知皮部以經脉爲紀者 — Suwen 56
3
The six names 害蜚、樞持、關樞、樞儒、害肩、關蟄
六名皆取門戶之器為喻：王冰注「蜚，生化也；害，殺氣也」、「儒，順也」、「關閉蟄類，使順行藏」；一說害蜚即闔扉
陽明之陽，名曰害蜚 — Suwen 56
4
Why twelve are spoken of as six 上下同法
上手經與下足經同一法則，故手足同名之經共一皮部
上下同法 — Suwen 56
5
What is looked for inside them 視其部中有浮絡者
視其部中浮現之絡脉，察其色：多青則痛，多黑則痺，黄赤則熱，多白則寒，五色皆見則寒熱
視其部中有浮絡者 — Suwen 56
6
What the regions are for 凡十二經絡脉者，皮之部也
百病之始生，必先於皮毛；邪由皮入絡、由絡入經、由經入府藏，故皮有分部，不與而生大病
凡十二經絡脉者，皮之部也 — Suwen 56

Occurrences in the classics

Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.

Display
2 passages
Suwen 56 Suwen 56 · 皮部論 Read in context →
歧伯對曰：欲知皮部以經脉爲紀者，諸經皆然。 歧伯对曰：欲知皮部以经脉为纪者，诸经皆然。
Qí bó duì yuē: yù zhī pí bù yǐ jīng mài wéi jì zhě, zhū jīng jiē rán.
Qi Bo answers: if you want to know the skin regions, take the channel vessels as the rule by which they are marked out; it is so with every conduit.
**「皮部」本篇1見——「皮」讀 pí、**本篇9見**；「部」讀 bù、**本篇14見**；「欲」讀 yù、**「欲知」之欲讀 yù**；「爲」讀 wéi、**「以經脉爲紀」之爲讀 wéi，本篇1見**；「紀」讀 jì、**「經紀」「爲紀」之紀讀 jì，本篇2見**；「諸」讀 zhū、**本篇2見**；**「皮部」之名，全篇止此一見；其下皆言「皮之部」「皮之十二部」——**皮者脉之部也**，是本篇之定義**
素問·繆刺論 Suwen 63 · 繆刺論 Read in context →
不調者，經刺之，有痛而經不病者，繆刺之，因視其皮部有血絡者，盡取之。 不调者，经刺之，有痛而经不病者，缪刺之，因视其皮部有血络者，尽取之。
Bù tiáo zhě, jīng cì zhī, yǒu tòng ér jīng bù bìng zhě, miù cì zhī, yīn shì qí pí bù yǒu xuè luò zhě, jǐn qǔ zhī.
If it does not come into balance, puncture the channels. Where there is pain and yet the channel is not diseased, puncture contralaterally. Then look over the skin regions and take every blood-filled network you find.
「因視其皮部有血絡者，盡取之」——**「皮部」本篇1見，在末章繆刺之收法中**：**繆刺之餘，視其皮部有血絡者盡取之——皮部者，絡之見於外者**；**第五十六篇專論皮部，本篇即用其說以為刺絡之地**；**「皮」讀 pí、「部」讀 bù**

Compounds built on this term

皮部
pí bù
the skin regions
本篇一見（欲知皮部以經脉爲紀者）
分部
fēn bù
the division into regions
本篇三見（皮有分部、别其分部、皮者有分部）
浮絡
fú luò
the floating network vessel
本篇六見，皮部中所視者
上下同法
shàng xià tóng fǎ
hand and foot follow one rule
本篇六見

How it has been translated

Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.

This siteskin regionsthe region a channel answers for on the surface, read by the floating network vessels within it
Modern acupuncturecutaneous regions · 十二皮部the standard English of the textbooks, usually presented as twelve rather than six because hand and foot are counted apart
Untranslatedpi bukept as pinyin where the door-names are being discussed, since the names themselves are left untranslated on this site

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-02

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Reading path

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