Classica Sinica Medica

玄府

xuán fǔ

Dark openings · xuan fu

Also rendered: Dark openings (this site; literal from the two graphs, and the chapter's own gloss is 汗空) · Sweat pores (王冰's gloss, 汗空也, and what most modern reading gives)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-10-03

At a glance

Pinyin
xuán fǔ
Simplified
玄府
Literal
玄 xuán — 《說文》 玄，幽遠也；黑而有赤色者為玄, the colour of what lies far off and cannot be made out, and by extension the minute and the hidden. 府 fǔ — 《說文》 府，文書藏也, a place where things are stored; in the body, the chambers and depots. Put together the two graphs name a chamber too small to see, and this chapter is one of the two places in the Suwen that says plainly what it is: 所謂𤣥府者，汗空也 — the dark openings are the sweat pores. 王冰 glosses the second word of that gloss: 空，孔也, 空 stands for 孔, and so it is read kǒng here. That is not how the same graph is read one chapter earlier: 骨空 in chapter 60 is read kōng, as written, and the chapter was at pains to say why. One chapter apart, two readings, and the difference is the difference between a hole through a bone and a hole in the skin. The first of the chapter's two uses is the one that carries the argument — 勇而勞甚，則腎汗出，腎汗出，逢於風，内不得入於藏府，外不得越於皮膚，客於𤣥府，行於皮裏，傳爲胕腫，本之於腎，名曰風水 — the sweat has come out and met wind; it cannot go back in, it cannot get out; it lodges in the dark openings. The 玄府 is where a thing sits when it can move neither way, and the chapter's swelling is what such a thing becomes. This base text writes the graph 𤣥, an old form of 玄, and it is kept as written.
Shuowen
「𤣥」讀 xuán、**底本作「𤣥」，「玄」之古文異體，讀 xuán，本篇「𤣥府」2見；通行本作「玄」，此从底本**；「府」讀 fǔ、**《說文》府，文書藏也，物所聚之處；本篇「府」3見（藏府、玄府）**；「汗」讀 hàn、**「腎汗出」之汗讀 hàn，本篇「汗」3見**；「空」讀 kǒng、**「汗空也」之空讀 kǒng，王冰注「空，孔也」；本篇「空」2見而二讀：此讀 kǒng，第六十篇「骨空」讀 kōng 如字**；「客」讀 kè、**「客於𤣥府」之客讀 kè，寄居也，本篇「客」2見**；「皮」讀 pí、**「不得越於皮膚」「行於皮裏」之皮讀 pí，本篇「皮」3見**；「裏」讀 lǐ、**「行於皮裏」之裏讀 lǐ，衣之内層，引申為在内；本篇「裏」1見**；「傳」讀 chuán、**「傳爲胕腫」之傳讀 chuán，變而之彼也**；「胕」讀 fū、**「傳爲胕腫」之胕讀 fū，《集韻》芳無切，腫也；本篇「胕腫」4見**；「腫」讀 zhǒng、**《說文》腫，癰也；从肉重聲；本篇「腫」5見**；「腎」讀 shèn、**「腎汗出」「本之於腎」之腎讀 shèn，本篇「腎」18見**；「風」讀 fēng、**「逢於風」之風讀 fēng；「本之於腎，名曰風水」之「風水」本篇1見**；「藏」讀 zàng、**「内不得入於藏府」之藏讀 zàng；本篇「藏」5見**；「越」讀 yuè、**「外不得越於皮膚」之越讀 yuè，踰也，散也**；「本」讀 běn、**「本之於腎」之本讀 běn；下文「其本在腎」同**

In brief

The dark openings — 玄 xuán, what is dim and cannot be made out; 府 fǔ, a chamber where things are stored — and the chapter gives its own gloss for them: 所謂𤣥府者，汗空也, the dark openings are the sweat pores, 空 read kǒng after 王冰: 空，孔也. That reading is worth holding against 骨空 in chapter 60, one chapter back, where the same graph is read kōng as written; the two are not the same hole. What makes the word worth an entry is the other place it is used, where the chapter is arguing rather than defining: 腎汗出，逢於風，内不得入於藏府，外不得越於皮膚，客於𤣥府，行於皮裏，傳爲胕腫，本之於腎，名曰風水. The sweat of the kidney has come out and met wind; it can get neither back into the depots nor out past the skin, and so it lodges in the dark openings — the 玄府 is the place a thing is stuck when it can move in neither direction — and what is stuck there turns into the swelling the chapter is about. 後世 took the word further: 劉完素 made the 玄府 the gates by which qi and fluid go out and in, and found them everywhere, in the viscera, the skin and hair, the sinews and membranes, the bone and marrow, the nails and the teeth. The chapter itself needs none of that; it needs only a pore that will not let sweat past. The base text writes the graph 𤣥, an old form of 玄, and this is kept as written. The word occurs twice in this chapter and has not appeared in any chapter transcribed on the site before.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 玄府
玄者幽遠也（《說文》），引申為幽微細小；府者文書藏也，物所聚之處
所謂𤣥府者，汗空也。 — Suwen 61
2
The chapter's own gloss 所謂𤣥府者，汗空也
玄府即汗孔；王冰注「空，孔也」，故「空」此讀 kǒng
所謂𤣥府者，汗空也。 — Suwen 61
3
How a thing comes to lodge there 客於𤣥府，行於皮裏
腎汗出而逢於風，内不得入於藏府，外不得越於皮膚，乃客於玄府而行於皮裏
客於𤣥府，行於皮裏 — Suwen 61
4
What lodging there turns into 傳爲胕腫
客於玄府、行於皮裏者，傳而為胕腫；其本在腎，故名之曰風水
傳爲胕腫 — Suwen 61
5
How 空 is read here 汗空也
此讀 kǒng，王冰「空，孔也」；第六十篇「骨空」讀 kōng 如字，同篇異讀前後相望
所謂𤣥府者，汗空也。 — Suwen 61
6
The graph as the base text writes it 𤣥府
底本作「𤣥」，「玄」之古文異體，讀 xuán，本篇「𤣥府」2見；通行本作「玄」，此从底本
客於𤣥府，行於皮裏 — Suwen 61

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
1 passages
Suwen 61 Suwen 61 · 水熱穴論 Read in context →
勇而勞甚，則腎汗出，腎汗出，逢於風，内不得入於藏府，外不得越於皮膚，客於𤣥府，行於皮裏，傳爲胕腫。本之於腎，名曰風水。所謂𤣥府者，汗空也。 勇而劳甚，则肾汗出，肾汗出，逢于风，内不得入于藏府，外不得越于皮肤，客于玄府，行于皮里，传为胕肿。本之于肾，名曰风水。所谓玄府者，汗空也。
Yǒng ér láo shèn, zé shèn hàn chū, shèn hàn chū, féng yú fēng, nèi bù dé rù yú zàng fǔ, wài bù dé yuè yú pí fū, kè yú xuán fǔ, xíng yú pí lǐ, chuán wéi fū zhǒng. Běn zhī yú shèn, míng yuē fēng shuǐ. Suǒ wèi xuán fǔ zhě, hàn kǒng yě.
When a man exerts himself, or labours too hard, the kidney sweats. The sweat of the kidney comes out and meets wind: it cannot get back inward to the depots and palaces, nor can it get outward past the skin. It lodges in the dark openings, moves in the inner face of the skin, and turns into swelling. Its root is in the kidney. It is called wind water. The dark openings are the sweat pores.
**「𤣥府」本篇2見——「𤣥」讀 xuán、**底本作「𤣥」，「玄」之古文異體，讀 xuán，通行本作「玄」，此从底本**；「府」讀 fǔ、**《說文》府，文書藏也，物所聚之處**；「汗」讀 hàn、**「腎汗出」二見，本篇「汗」3見**；「空」讀 kǒng、**「汗空也」之空讀 kǒng，王冰「空，孔也」；本篇「空」2見而二讀：此讀 kǒng，第六十篇「骨空」讀 kōng 如字**；「客」讀 kè、**「客於𤣥府」之客讀 kè，寄居也**；「皮」讀 pí、「裏」讀 lǐ、**「行於皮裏」：皮讀 pí、裏讀 lǐ，本篇「裏」1見**；「傳」讀 chuán、**「傳爲胕腫」之傳讀 chuán，變而之彼也**；「胕」讀 fū、**「傳爲胕腫」之胕讀 fū，《集韻》芳無切，腫也**；「腎」讀 shèn、**「本之於腎」之腎讀 shèn，本篇「腎」18見**；「風」讀 fēng、**「本之於腎，名曰風水」：本篇「風水」1見**；「藏」讀 zàng、**「内不得入於藏府」之藏讀 zàng**

Compounds built on this term

汗空
hàn kǒng
the sweat pore
所謂𤣥府者，汗空也；「空」讀 kǒng，王冰「空，孔也」
皮裏
pí lǐ
the inner face of the skin
行於皮裏；「裏」讀 lǐ，本篇1見
腎汗
shèn hàn
the sweat of the kidney
則腎汗出，腎汗出，逢於風；本篇「汗」3見
藏府
zàng fǔ
the depots and palaces
内不得入於藏府；「藏」讀 zàng，本篇「藏」5見

How it has been translated

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

This sitedark openingsliteral from the graphs — 玄 what lies far off and cannot be made out, 府 a chamber where things are kept — and kept in the plural because the chapter's use is distributive: sweat that cannot get past them is what makes the swelling
Physiologicalthe sweat pores · 汗空王冰's 空，孔也, and the reading of 空 as kǒng that goes with it; exact, and the sense the chapter itself gives, though it stays with the skin where the chapter's argument needs a place rather than an organ
Later theoryxuanfu · the gates of qi and fluid劉完素《素問玄機原病式》 made the word general: 玄府者，無物不有 — the viscera, the skin and hair, the sinews, the membranes, the bone and marrow, the nails and the teeth all have them, and they are the doors by which qi rises, falls, goes out and comes in. Useful for reading everything after the Song; more than this chapter asks for

Entry status

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2026-10-03

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Reading path

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