Classica Sinica Medica

解脉

jiě mài

The jie vessel · jie mai

Also rendered: The jie vessel (this site; the name is kept, since the vessel is not identified) · The slackened vessel (takes 解 as xiè, slack; a reading, not a name)

Vessels

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
jiě mài
Simplified
解脉
Literal
解脉 jiě mài — a named vessel that chapter 41 treats twice and that no other chapter of the Suwen names. It is the only vessel in the chapter given two entries: the first draws the shoulder, dims the sight and lets the urine go, and is bled at the transverse vessel in the cleft; the second feels like a belt pulling, frightens the patient, and is bled at a knotted network the size of a grain of millet, where black blood spurts and one stops at the red. What vessel it is has been argued since the commentaries — Wang Bing takes it for a scattered branch of the greater yang. The graph 解 is read jiě here; some read it xiè, in the sense of slack and dispersed. This site keeps jiě, the reading of the name.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：解，判也——**从刀判牛角，分判之義**；**引申為散、為釋**。「解」讀 jiě，**本篇4見**，**四見皆為脉名「解脉」之解**；「脉」讀 mài**本篇24見，不作「脈」**。**「解脉」4見**——**一作「剌解脉」（「剌」讀 cì），一作「刺解脉」**，**同篇剌、刺二形並存，各从底本**；「肩」讀 jiān、「溲」讀 sōu、**「時遺溲」之溲讀 sōu**；「黍」讀 shǔ、「黑」讀 hēi、**「血射以黑，見赤血而已」為《素問》記出血變色之最細者**。

In brief

A vessel named only in chapter 41, and the only one given two entries there. Its two forms are told apart by what the pain does — one pulls the shoulder and dims the eyes, the other grips like a belt and frightens — and by what the blood does, one stopping when it changes and the other when it runs red.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
What the graph says 解
判也，分也；此為脉名，讀 jiě
解脉，令人腰痛 — Suwen 41
2
The first form 痛引肩，目䀮䀮然，時遺溲
痛上引肩，目昏而遺溺
解脉，令人腰痛，痛引肩 — Suwen 41
3
Where the first is bled 膝筋肉分間郄外廉之横脉
橫脈出血，血變而止
剌解脉，在膝筋肉分間郄外廉之横脉出血 — Suwen 41
4
The second form 如引帶，常如折腰狀，善恐
如帶牽引，如腰欲折，善恐
解脉令人腰痛如引帶 — Suwen 41
5
Where the second is bled 郄中結絡如黍米
結絡如黍米，血射以黑
刺解脉，在郄中結絡如黍米 — Suwen 41
6
What Wang Bing took it for 太陽之別
註家多以太陽散脈當之，所指不一
剌解脉 — Suwen 41

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 41 Suwen 41 · 刺腰痛 Read in context →
解脉，令人腰痛，痛引肩，目䀮䀮然，時遺溲，剌解脉，在膝筋肉分間郄外廉之横脉出血，血變而止。解脉令人腰痛如引帶，常如折腰狀，善恐，刺解脉，在郄中結絡如黍米，刺之血射以黑，見赤血而已。 解脉，令人腰痛，痛引肩，目䀮䀮然，时遗溲，刺解脉，在膝筋肉分间郄外廉之横脉出血，血变而止。解脉令人腰痛如引带，常如折腰状，善恐，刺解脉，在郄中结络如黍米，刺之血射以黑，见赤血而已。
Jiě mài, lìng rén yāo tòng, tòng yǐn jiān, mù huāng huāng rán, shí yí sōu, cì jiě mài, zài xī jīn ròu fēn jiān xì wài lián zhī héng mài chū xuè, xuè biàn ér zhǐ.Jiě mài lìng rén yāo tòng rú yǐn dài, cháng rú zhé yāo zhuàng, shàn kǒng, cì jiě mài, zài xì zhōng jié luò rú shǔ mǐ, cì zhī xuè shè yǐ hēi, xiàn chì xuè ér yǐ.
The jie vessel gives pain in the lower back that draws into the shoulder; the eyes go dim and blank, and the patient passes urine unawares. Needle the jie vessel: let blood from the transverse vessel at the division of sinew and flesh at the knee, on the outer edge of the cleft, and stop when the blood changes colour. The jie vessel also gives pain in the lower back as though one were pulled by a belt, with the constant feeling that the back is breaking in two, and the person frightens easily. Needle the jie vessel where a knotted network vessel the size of a grain of millet sits in the cleft centre: the blood spurts out black, and one stops as soon as red blood is seen.
**解脉兩見而二形：首條作「剌解脉」，次條作「刺解脉」**——**本篇「剌」惟此一見，「刺」三十二見**，**同篇二字並存，各从底本**。「遺」讀 yí**「遺溲」讀 yí sōu**，**與本篇「遺溺」之義同而字異**；「帶」讀 dài、「折」讀 zhé、**「如引帶」「如折腰狀」二喻相承**；「已」讀 yǐ**「見赤血而已」讀 yǐ**。**「血射以黑」之「射」讀 shè**——**血出如射，非緩流也**。

Compounds built on this term

解脉
jiě mài
the jie vessel
惟本篇言之，他篇未見
剌解脉
cì jiě mài
needle the jie vessel
首條作剌，本篇惟一之剌字
結絡如黍米
jié luò rú shǔ mǐ
a knotted network like a grain of millet
解脉第二條之取處
血變而止
xuè biàn ér zhǐ
stop when the blood changes
解脉第一條之止法

How it has been translated

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

This sitethe jie vesselthe name is transliterated and marked as a vessel, because no later point can be assigned to it with confidence
Unschuldthe jie vesselkeeps the name and lists the commentaries' candidates
Wisemanthe jie vesselthe same; Wiseman notes the reading xiè in a footnote

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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