Classica Sinica Medica

天樞 简体 天枢

tiān shū

Heavenly pivot · tian shu

Also rendered: The heavenly pivot (this site; literal, and it keeps 樞 as the hinge of a door rather than as an axis of the sky) · Tian shu (transliteration; unavoidable when the homonym — the stomach-channel point — is in play)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-06

At a glance

Pinyin
tiān shū
Simplified
天枢
Literal
天 tiān — heaven; 樞 shū — the pivot of a door, the socket in which the hinge turns (《說文》: 樞，戶樞也). 天樞 is the hinge on which heaven and earth turn against each other, and in this chapter it is what divides the meeting of the qi into an above and a below: 天樞之上，天氣主之；天樞之下，地氣主之. Two occurrences, both inside the received line the chapter quotes in 故曰 form. It is not a star here — the name was later given to a point of the stomach channel and to a star of the northern sky, and neither is what this chapter means.
Shuowen
**「天」讀 tiān，本篇38見**；**「樞」讀 shū，本篇2見，皆在「天樞」一詞內**；**《說文》：樞，戶樞也；戶之所以開闔者也**；**「天樞」本篇2見，皆在第二十七段「故曰」之文內**

In brief

The hinge between the qi of heaven and the qi of earth, quoted from a received line: above it the qi of heaven governs, below it the qi of earth governs, and in the region between them — the meeting of the qi — the human being dwells. The chapter does not explain the hinge; it quotes it, in the 故曰 form it uses for lines already in circulation. What matters for the argument is that the hinge is in the middle, so that what is measured above and below can be read against a person standing between. The name later attaches to a stomach-channel point and to a star; neither sense is present here.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The graphs 天樞
天者在上，樞者戶之開闔處
天樞之上，天氣主之 — Suwen 68
2
What is above it 天樞之上，天氣主之
樞之上，天之氣治焉
天樞之上，天氣主之 — Suwen 68
3
What is below it 天樞之下，地氣主之
樞之下，地之氣治焉
天樞之下，地氣主之 — Suwen 68
4
What lies between 氣交之分，人氣從之
樞之上下之間即氣交之分
氣交之分，人氣從之，萬物由之 — Suwen 68
5
How the chapter cites it 故曰：天樞之上
以「故曰」引成文，非歧伯自撰
故曰：天樞之上，天氣主之 — Suwen 68
6
What it is not 非星名，亦非穴名
本篇止言天地之樞，後世之名非此義
上下之位，氣交之中，人之居也 — Suwen 68

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 68 Suwen 68 · 六微㫖大論 Read in context →
歧伯曰：上下之位，氣交之中，人之居也。故曰：天樞之上，天氣主之；天樞之下，地氣主之。氣交之分，人氣從之，萬物由之。此之謂也。 歧伯曰：上下之位，气交之中，人之居也。故曰：天枢之上，天气主之；天枢之下，地气主之。气交之分，人气从之，万物由之。此之谓也。
Qí bó yuē: shàng xià zhī wèi, qì jiāo zhī zhōng, rén zhī jū yě. Gù yuē: tiān shū zhī shàng, tiān qì zhǔ zhī; tiān shū zhī xià, dì qì zhǔ zhī. Qì jiāo zhī fēn, rén qì cóng zhī, wàn wù yóu zhī. Cǐ zhī wèi yě.
Qi Bo said: between the positions above and below, in the midst of the meeting of the qi, is where the human being dwells. Hence it is said: above the heavenly pivot, the qi of heaven governs; below the heavenly pivot, the qi of earth governs. In the region where the qi meet, the qi of the human follows and the ten thousand things go by it. This is what that means.
**「天樞」本篇2見，皆在此段**；**「樞」讀 shū，本篇2見，不見於他處**；**「主」讀 zhǔ，本篇2見；此「主之」即主治之義**；**此段以「故曰」起，是引已成之文，與第四段、第五段之「故曰」同例**；**「萬物由之」之「由」讀 yóu，本篇4見**

Compounds built on this term

氣交
qì jiāo
the meeting of the qi
本篇4見；天樞即在氣交之分
天氣
tiān qì
the qi of heaven
本篇9見；天樞之上，天氣主之
地氣
dì qì
the qi of earth
本篇4見；天樞之下，地氣主之
人氣
rén qì
the human qi
本篇1見；氣交之分，人氣從之

How it has been translated

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

This sitethe heavenly pivotliteral from 天 and 樞; the graph is the socket a door turns in, and the chapter needs a thing that divides an above from a below
Transliterationtian shuhow the phrase appears in writing on the acupuncture point of the same name; the same two graphs, and a different referent
Descriptivethe hinge of heavenacceptable, and it invites the reading of 樞 as the pole of the sky, which this chapter does not make

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-06

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