The nine stores

Also rendered: nine viscera (Standard, and anachronistic) · nine depots (Older) · nine zang (Pinyin plus translation)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: jiǔ zàng
Simplified: 九藏
Literal: 九 nine; 藏 the storing organs. Four form stores, five spirit stores, nine in all.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：九，陽之變也；《說文》新附：藏，匿也，醫書讀 zàng。

In brief

The number this chapter arrives at by squaring three: three make heaven, three make earth, three make the human being; three times three is nine; nine divides into the nine regions; and the nine regions answer to nine stores — 形藏四，神藏五. This is not the familiar count of five stores and six receptacles. It is a count made to match the nine-fold division of the sky, and the chapter drops it two lines later for the eleven of 凡十一藏取決於膽.

Senses in the classical corpus

The four form stores 形藏四

The stores reckoned by form

故形藏四 — Suwen 9

The five spirit stores 神藏五

The stores reckoned by spirit; with the four, nine

神藏五，合爲九藏以應之也 — Suwen 9

Occurrences in the classics

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

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2 passages

素問·六節藏象論 Suwen 9 · 六節藏象論 Read in context →

故形藏四，神藏五，合爲九藏以應之也。故形藏四，神藏五，合为九藏以应之也。

gù xíng zàng sì, shén zàng wǔ, hé wéi jiǔ zàng yǐ yìng zhī yě.

So there are four form stores and five spirit stores, nine stores in all, answering to them.

九藏之數由三三得九而來，以應九野，非五藏六府之常數。篇末「凡十一藏取決於膽」又用十一之數（五藏加六府），本篇二數並見而不相妨。

素問·三部九候論 Suwen 20 · 三部九候論 Read in context →

三部者，各有天，各有地，各有人，三而成天，三而成地，三而成人。三而三之，合則爲九，九分爲九野，九野爲九藏。三部者，各有天，各有地，各有人，三而成天，三而成地，三而成人。三而三之，合则为九，九分为九野，九野为九藏。

Sān bù zhě, gè yǒu tiān, gè yǒu dì, gè yǒu rén, sān ér chéng tiān, sān ér chéng dì, sān ér chéng rén. Sān ér sān zhī, hé zé wéi jiǔ, jiǔ fēn wéi jiǔ yě, jiǔ yě wéi jiǔ zàng.

The three sectors each have heaven, each have earth, each have human: three make heaven, three make earth, three make the human. Triple three and the sum is nine; nine divides into the nine regions; the nine regions are the nine storehouses.

「三而成天，三而成地，三而成人。三而三之，合則爲九，九分爲九野，九野爲九藏」：本篇九藏之義，由九野而來——九野既分，即以為人身之九藏；下文「神藏五，形藏四，合爲九藏」則別其目。與第九篇「九藏」（以九藏應九野而主氣數）同目而義相發：第九篇以九藏與九野相配而論氣數之紀，本篇則由三部九候之數推至九野、由九野推至九藏，而歸於「五藏已敗，其色必夭，夭必死矣」；是其數同，而本篇之用專在決死。

Compounds built on this term

形藏四

xíng zàng sì

the four form stores

Reckoned by what has shape and holds something

神藏五

shén zàng wǔ

the five spirit stores

The heart, liver, lung, spleen and kidney

十一藏

shí yī zàng

the eleven stores

The count used at the end of the same chapter

How it has been translated

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

Common English	nine viscera / nine zang organs	Both take 藏 as the organ rather than as what the organ does.
This site	the nine stores	藏 is kept as storing, as it is everywhere on this site. The gloss says why the count is nine here and eleven at the end of the same chapter, so the reader is not tempted to take either for an anatomy.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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