Classica Sinica Medica

五方

wǔ fāng

The five regions

Also rendered: the five regions (Emphasises land and people) · the five directions (Emphasises compass points) · the five quarters (Older English idiom for the same)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
wǔ fāng
Simplified
五方
Literal
五 five; 方 a direction, here also a region and its people. East, south, west, north and the centre — in this chapter each of the five yields exactly one therapy.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：五，五行也，从二，陰陽在天地間交午也；方，併船也（引申為方位、區域）。

In brief

The frame of the chapter. Each region gets land and water first, then dwelling and diet, then the illness that follows, then the one therapy that answers it: the stone needle in the east, potent drugs in the west, cautery in the north, the nine needles in the south, guiding and pressing in the centre. Wang Bing aligns four of them with the seasons — east with spring, west with autumn, north with winter, south with summer — and the centre with the virtue of earth. What is distinctive here is not the fivefold scheme, common enough in this literature, but that each region contributes one method and nothing else.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
East, south, west, north, centre 五方
本篇以五方配五法，一方一法
The chapter pairs five regions with five methods, one to each.
故東方之域…西方者…北方者…南方者…中央者 — 素問·異法方宜論
2
Each region has its own illness 一方一病
東癰瘍、西病生於內、北滿病、南攣痺、中央痿厥寒熱
East: sores; west: illness arising within; north: fullness; south: contraction and blockage; centre: flaccidity, reversal and cold-heat.
其病皆爲癰瘍…其病攣痺…其病多痿厥寒熱 — 素問·異法方宜論
3
Each illness has its own method 一方一法
砭石、毒藥、灸爇、九鍼、導引按蹻
Stone needle, potent drugs, moxa burning, the nine needles, and daoyin with massage.
其治宜砭石…宜毒藥…宜灸爇…宜微鍼…宜導引按蹻 — 素問·異法方宜論
4
Four follow the seasons, the centre follows earth 法四時、法土德
王冰：東法春氣、西法秋氣、北法冬氣、南法夏氣，中央「法土德之用，故生物眾」
Wang Bing: the east takes spring as model, the west autumn, the north winter, the south summer; the centre takes as model the working of earth's virtue, and so its creatures are many.
（王冰注各方） — 素問·異法方宜論（Wang Bing）

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
1 passages
素問·異法方宜論 Read in context →
故東方之域，天地之所始生也。魚鹽之地，海濱傍水，其民食魚而嗜鹹，皆安其處。美其食。 故东方之域，天地之所始生也。鱼盐之地，海滨傍水，其民食鱼而嗜咸，皆安其处。美其食。
gù dōng fāng zhī yù, tiān dì zhī suǒ shǐ shēng yě. yú yán zhī dì, hǎi bīn bàng shuǐ, qí mín shí yú ér shì xián, jiē ān qí chù. měi qí shí.
For the region of the east is where heaven and earth begin their generating: a land of fish and salt, seashore alongside water. Its people eat fish and are fond of salt; they are all settled where they are, and they find their food good.
本篇以五方配五法：東方砭石、西方毒藥、北方灸爇、南方九鍼、中央導引按蹻。王冰以四方配四時（東春、西秋、北冬、南夏），中央「法土德之用，故生物眾」。五方配屬為本類文獻通例，本篇特色在於一方只出一法。

Compounds built on this term

東方
dōng fāng
the east
王冰：法春氣也
西方
xī fāng
the west
王冰：法秋氣也
北方
běi fāng
the north
王冰：法冬氣也
南方
nán fāng
the south
王冰：法夏氣也
中央
zhōng yāng
the centre
王冰：法土德之用，故生物眾

How it has been translated

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

Common Englishthe five directionsThe literal and most frequent rendering.
This sitethe five regionsEvery entry in this chapter begins with soil and water and only then with people; what is being mapped is country, not bearings. Region keeps that. The fivefold scheme itself is common in this literature; what is special here is that each region gives exactly one method, so the word needs to carry the ground and not just the compass.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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