Classica Sinica Medica

關格 简体 关格

guān gé

Guange · shut out and shut in

Also rendered: blockage and repulsion (Common) · closed and rejected (Descriptive) · guan ge (Pinyin)

Vessels

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
guān gé
Simplified
关格
Literal
關 a bar across a gate, to close; 格 to resist, to shut out. Two door words, one shutting in and one shutting out.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：關，以木橫持門戶也；格，木長貌（引申為扞格、拒止）。

In brief

The state in which both pulses — neck and wrist — are four or more times too full. The chapter is blunt about it: 不能極於天地之精氣，則死矣, the pulse is overfull and cannot reach the essence-qi of heaven and earth, and there is death. One textual point: the base text has 贏; some take it as a slip for 盈, overfull, while 王冰 glosses it as 盛. Both readings point the same way.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
Both pulses four times too full 人迎與寸口俱盛四倍已上
The yang side and the yin side both shut
人迎與寸口俱盛四倍已上爲關格 — Suwen 9
2
The prognosis 不能極於天地之精氣，則死矣
Stated outright, without hedge
關格之脉贏，不能極於天地之精氣，則死矣 — Suwen 9

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
2 passages
素問·六節藏象論 Suwen 9 · 六節藏象論 Read in context →
人迎與寸口俱盛四倍已上爲關格，關格之脉贏，不能極於天地之精氣，則死矣。 人迎与寸口俱盛四倍已上为关格，关格之脉赢，不能极于天地之精气，则死矣。
rén yíng yǔ cùn kǒu jù shèng sì bèi yǐ shàng wéi guān gé, guān gé zhī mài yíng, bù néng jí yú tiān dì zhī jīng qì, zé sǐ yǐ.
When both the neck and the wrist pulses are four times and more as full, it is called shut-out and shut-in. The pulse of this condition is overfilled; it cannot reach to the essence-qi of heaven and earth, and there is death.
全篇以此脈證收束：陰陽俱盛四倍以上則關格，其脈盈滿而不能受天地之精氣，故死。底本作「贏」，讀 yíng，王冰注「盛也」；一説當作「盈」，滿溢之義。
素問·脉要精微論 Suwen 17 · 脉要精微論 Read in context →
歧伯曰：反四時者，有餘爲精，不足爲消。應太過，不足爲精；應不足，有餘爲消。陰陽不相應，病名曰關格。 岐伯曰：反四时者，有余为精，不足为消。应太过，不足为精；应不足，有余为消。阴阳不相应，病名曰关格。
qí bó yuē: fǎn sì shí zhě, yǒu yú wéi jīng, bù zú wéi xiāo. yīng tài guò, bù zú wéi jīng; yīng bù zú, yǒu yú wéi xiāo. yīn yáng bù xiāng yìng, bìng míng yuē guān gé.
Qibo says: When it runs counter to the four seasons, excess is essence and insufficiency is wasting. Where the season should be excessive, insufficiency means essence; where the season should be insufficient, excess means wasting. When yin and yang do not answer one another, the illness is called barrier and rejection.
「陰陽不相應，病名曰關格」：本篇以脈與四時相反而陰陽不相呼應者為關格。與第九篇「關格」（人迎與寸口俱盛四倍以上者為關格）同條而義有廣狹：第九篇以人迎寸口之脈勢言之，為關格之正診；本篇則推其本於陰陽之不相應——應太過而不足者為精，應不足而有餘者為消，陰陽否隔而不相通，故名關格。二說可以互參。

Compounds built on this term

格陽
gé yáng
yang that shuts out
The neck four degrees and more
關陰
guān yīn
yin that shuts in
The wrist four degrees and more
人迎
rén yíng
the neck pulse
One of the two
寸口
cùn kǒu
the wrist pulse
The other of the two

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishblockage and repulsionStandard, and takes 格 as vomiting, which is a later sense.
This siteshut out and shut in關 and 格 are both door words in the 說文 — a bar across the gate and a thing that resists. The two halves name two directions of one failure, and blockage alone says only one of them.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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