Classica Sinica Medica

寄治

jì zhì

Governing by delegation · ji zhi

Also rendered: governing by delegation (Keeps 寄 as lodging something in another's keeping) · lodged rule (More literal, but reads awkwardly as a technical term)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
jì zhì
Simplified
寄治
Literal
寄 is to lodge, to place something in another's keeping; 治 is to govern. Governing by delegation is therefore close to literal: the spleen does not hold a season outright but is lodged in each of the four, eighteen days at a time. Chapter 29 uses the word once and the image does the work of an argument. A ruler who governs by delegation is still governing; a depot that is lodged in every season is still present in all of them. This is how the chapter reconciles two things that look contradictory — the spleen has no season, and the spleen is in every season.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：寄，託也，从宀奇聲；治，水出東萊曲城陽丘山南入海，引申為理、為主。「寄」讀 jì，本篇一見；「治」讀 zhì，本篇四見。「寄治」連文惟此一見，與「寄」之讀 jì（寄寓、寄託）者同音同義，不作「奇」「騎」等字。

In brief

The arrangement by which the spleen, having no season of its own, governs eighteen days at the turn of each of the four. Chapter 29 states it in a single clause and then explains why it must be so: the spleen is earth, earth grows the ten thousand things, and what grows everything cannot be confined to a quarter of the year. Eighteen days four times over is seventy-two, and the number is not arbitrary — it is what is left when the four seasons have each taken their own. Later medicine turned this into the doctrine that the spleen is in charge at the hinges between seasons.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The arrangement 各十八日寄治
四時之末各寄治十八日
常以四時長四藏，各十八日寄治 — Suwen 29
2
Why it is needed 不得獨主於時也
脾無獨主之時，故寄於四時
不得獨主於時也 — Suwen 29
3
What makes it possible 脾者，土也，治中央
脾居中而運四旁，故能寄於四時
脾者，土也，治中央 — Suwen 29
4
What it does while lodged 長四藏
寄治之時即用之長養四藏
常以四時長四藏 — Suwen 29
5
The number 十八
四時各寄十八日，共七十二日
各十八日寄治 — Suwen 29
6
The ground of it 土者，生萬物而法天地
土無所不生，故不得專主一時
土者，生萬物而法天地 — Suwen 29

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·太陰陽明論 Suwen 29 · 太陰陽明論 Read in context →
歧伯曰：脾者，土也，治中央，常以四時長四藏，各十八日寄治，不得獨主於時也。 歧伯曰：脾者，土也，治中央，常以四时长四藏，各十八日寄治，不得独主于时也。
Qí bó yuē: pí zhě, tǔ yě, zhì zhōng yāng, cháng yǐ sì shí zhǎng sì zàng, gè shí bā rì jì zhì, bù dé dú zhǔ yú shí yě.
Qibo says: the spleen is earth. It rules the centre, and constantly, through the four seasons, it grows the four depots — governing by delegation for eighteen days in each. It cannot govern a season by itself.
此句是本篇論脾與四時最要之一語。「歧」讀 qí；「伯」讀 bó；「曰」讀 yuē；「脾」讀 pí；「者」讀 zhě；「土」讀 tǔ；「也」讀 yě；「治」讀 zhì；「中」讀 zhōng；「央」讀 yāng；「常」讀 cháng；「以」讀 yǐ；「四」讀 sì；「時」讀 shí；**「長」讀 zhǎng**；「藏」讀 zàng；「各」讀 gè；「十」讀 shí；「八」讀 bā；「日」讀 rì；「寄」讀 jì；「不」讀 bù；「得」讀 dé；「獨」讀 dú；「主」讀 zhǔ；「於」讀 yú。**「寄」字最宜玩**：寄者，託也——脾不自有其時，而託治於四時之末，故下文曰「不得獨主於時也」。四時各九十日而脾各寄十八日，四十八日共七十二日，合三百六十日而成一歲之數，是本篇以數明理之例。

Compounds built on this term

寄治
jì zhì
governing by delegation
本篇一見，脾寄治於四時之末
各十八日
gè shí bā rì
eighteen days each
本篇一見，四時各十八日
治中央
zhì zhōng yāng
ruling the centre
本篇一見，脾之正位
不主時
bù zhǔ shí
ruling no season
本篇二見，寄治之所以然

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng(rendered descriptively)They give the eighteen days directly and do not treat 寄治 as a standing term of art.
Unschuld(rendered descriptively)Unschuld likewise explains the arrangement in the translation rather than naming it.
This sitegoverning by delegationWe name it, because the word 寄 is doing real work: it is what lets the chapter say both that the spleen rules no season and that it is present in all four. A rendering that only gives the eighteen days loses the mechanism and keeps the arithmetic.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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