相火

xiàng huǒ

Minister fire · xiang huo

Also rendered: Minister fire (this site; 相 is the office of the minister, and the line is about holding a post, not about a degree of heat) · Assistant fire (literal in a different direction; it catches that 相 assists, and it drops the office, which is the point)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-05

At a glance

Pinyin: xiàng huǒ
Simplified: 相火
Literal: 相 xiàng — a minister, one who assists and acts in another's place; the graph is an eye over a tree (《說文》: 相，省視也，从目从木 — to examine, to look closely at), and from examining came assisting; 火 huǒ — fire. Minister fire is the second of the two fires, and the chapter says what it does in two graphs: 相火以位, the minister fire by its station. Two occurrences, and between them they are the whole of what this chapter says about it — once in the sentence it shares with 君火, once in the list of the six qi, where it presides over 少陽.
Shuowen: **「相」讀 xiàng，本篇10見而二讀：相火二見讀 xiàng，相感、相召、相臨、相錯、相合八見讀 xiāng**；**《說文》：相，省視也，从目从木**；**「火」讀 huǒ，本篇11見**；**「位」讀 wèi，本篇4見**；**「君火」本篇1見，與「相火」同在一句**；**「少陽」本篇2見，「少」本篇8見而二讀，少陰少陽五見讀 shào**

In brief

The second of the two fires, and the one that does the work. 相火以位 — the minister fire by its station — is half of a sentence whose other half is 君火以明: where the sovereign fire rules by giving light, the minister fire rules by holding the place it has been given and acting in it. This chapter gives it that place in so many words — 少陽之上，相火主之 — and it is worth noticing that in the chapter’s own list of the six qi, the name that appears is 相火 and not 君火; lesser yin is given 熱氣, heat qi. The two fires are paired in the doctrine and not symmetrical in the list.

Senses in the classical corpus

The graphs 相火

相者省視也，引申為輔相；火者南方之行

相火以位 — Suwen 66

The sentence it comes from 君火以明，相火以位

二火對舉，君以明而相以位

君火以明，相火以位。 — Suwen 66

What 位 means here 以位

守其位而行其事，與君之無為相對

相火以位。 — Suwen 66

Where it is placed 少陽之上，相火主之

六氣各主三陰三陽之一，相火主少陽

少陽之上，相火主之 — Suwen 66

The asymmetry of the list 少陰之上，熱氣主之

六氣之目有相火而無君火，少陰之上熱氣主之

少陰之上，熱氣主之 — Suwen 66

What it belongs to 是謂六元

相火居六元之一

所謂本也，是謂六元。 — Suwen 66

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display

2 passages

Suwen 66 Suwen 66 · 天元紀大論 Read in context →

鬼臾區曰：天以六爲節，地以五爲制。周天氣者，六期爲一備；終地紀者，五歲爲一周。君火以明，相火以位。五六相合，而七百二十氣爲一紀，凡三十歲，千四百四十氣，凡六十歲，而爲一周，不及太過，斯皆見矣。鬼臾区曰：天以六为节，地以五为制。周天气者，六期为一备；终地纪者，五岁为一周。君火以明，相火以位。五六相合，而七百二十气为一纪，凡三十岁，千四百四十气，凡六十岁，而为一周，不及太过，斯皆见矣。

Guǐ yú qū yuē: tiān yǐ liù wéi jié, dì yǐ wǔ wéi zhì. Zhōu tiān qì zhě, liù qī wéi yī bèi; zhōng dì jì zhě, wǔ suì wéi yī zhōu. Jūn huǒ yǐ míng, xiàng huǒ yǐ wèi. Wǔ liù xiāng hé, ér qī bǎi èr shí qì wéi yī jì, fán sān shí suì, qiān sì bǎi sì shí qì, fán liù shí suì, ér wéi yī zhōu, bù jí tài guò, sī jiē jiàn yǐ.

Gui Yu Qu said: heaven takes six as its measure, earth takes five as its rule. What circles the qi of heaven has six periods as one completion; what brings the earthly record to its end has five years as one circuit. The sovereign fire acts through brightness, the minister fire through position. Five and six joined give seven hundred and twenty qi as one record, which is thirty years; one thousand four hundred and forty qi, which is sixty years, make one circuit — and deficit and excess are all seen therein.

**「相火」本篇2見：此一見，第二十七段「少陽之上，相火主之」一見**；**「相」讀 xiàng，本篇10見而二讀：相火二見讀 xiàng，相感、相召、相臨、相錯、相合八見讀 xiāng**；**「君火」讀 jūn huǒ，本篇1見，與「相火」同在一句**；**「位」讀 wèi，本篇4見；「明」讀 míng，本篇7見**；**本篇六氣之目：風氣、熱氣、濕氣、相火、燥氣、寒氣；有相火而無君火**；**「少陽」讀 shào yáng，本篇2見**

素問·六微㫖大論 Suwen 68 · 六微㫖大論 Read in context →

歧伯曰：物生其應也，氣脉其應也。帝曰：善。願聞地理之應，六節氣位何如？歧伯曰：顯明之右，君火之位也。君火之右，退行一步，相火治之；復行一步，土氣治之；復行一步，金氣治之；復行一步，水氣治之；復行一步，木氣治之；復行一步，君火治之；歧伯曰：物生其应也，气脉其应也。帝曰：善。愿闻地理之应，六节气位何如？歧伯曰：显明之右，君火之位也。君火之右，退行一步，相火治之；复行一步，土气治之；复行一步，金气治之；复行一步，水气治之；复行一步，木气治之；复行一步，君火治之；

Qí bó yuē: wù shēng qí yìng yě, qì mài qí yìng yě. Dì yuē: shàn. Yuàn wén dì lǐ zhī yìng, liù jié qì wèi hé rú? Qí bó yuē: xiǎn míng zhī yòu, jūn huǒ zhī wèi yě. Jūn huǒ zhī yòu, tuì xíng yī bù, xiàng huǒ zhì zhī; fù xíng yī bù, tǔ qì zhì zhī; fù xíng yī bù, jīn qì zhì zhī; fù xíng yī bù, shuǐ qì zhì zhī; fù xíng yī bù, mù qì zhì zhī; fù xíng yī bù, jūn huǒ zhì zhī;

Qi Bo said: the growing of things is its answer; the qi and the pulse are its answer. Huang Di said: good. I wish to hear the answer of the pattern of the earth — how do the positions of the six divisions of qi stand? Qi Bo said: to the right of the manifest brightness is the position of sovereign fire. To the right of sovereign fire, retiring one step, minister fire governs; advancing one step further, earth qi governs; one step further, metal qi governs; one step further, water qi governs; one step further, wood qi governs; one step further, sovereign fire governs.

「君火之右，退行一步，相火治之」——**「相火」本篇2見：本段一見，第八段「相火之下，水氣承之」一見**；**「相」讀 xiàng，本站「相火」定讀 xiàng huǒ，與第六十六篇同**；**本篇六步之序：君火、相火、土氣、金氣、水氣、木氣，復歸君火**；**「君火」「相火」對言，別見本站「君火」一目**

Compounds built on this term

君火

jūn huǒ

sovereign fire

本篇1見；與相火對舉，君以明而相以位

少陽

shào yáng

shaoyang · lesser yang

本篇2見；相火之所主

熱氣

rè qì

heat qi

本篇1見；少陰之上所主，與相火同為火之屬

六元

liù yuán

the six origins

本篇1見；相火居六元之一

How it has been translated

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

This site	minister fire	相 read as the office rather than as the verb; kept because the sentence pairs two offices — a sovereign that shines and a minister that holds its station
Later usage	xiang huo, minister fire	standard in English writing on the circuit-qi chapters, given with 君火 jun huo; the same reading, and usually without the sentence that explains it
Modern clinical	the fire that moves	how the term is understood in later medicine, where 相火 belongs to liver and kidney and can become excessive; influential, and later than this chapter

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-05

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