Classica Sinica Medica

踰垣上屋 简体 逾垣上屋

yú yuán shàng wū

Scaling walls and roofs · yu yuan shang wu

Also rendered: scaling walls and roofs (Keeps both objects and the climbing verb) · climbing over walls and onto roofs (More literal on 上; slightly heavier)

Pathology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
yú yuán shàng wū
Simplified
逾垣上屋
Literal
踰 yú is to get over, 垣 a wall, 上 to get up onto, 屋 a roof. The phrase is the extreme case in chapter 30's list: not merely climbing high, which anyone might do, but getting over walls and onto roofs — 所上之處，皆非其素所能也, places he could never have reached when well. The chapter's question is exactly this: how can illness make a man able to do what health never let him do? Its answer is the fullness of yang in the limbs.
Shuowen
《說文解字》：踰，越也，从足俞聲——**「踰」讀 yú，本篇一見，越過也**，與「逾」音義並同而形異，今通行本多作「逾」；「垣」讀 yuán，牆也，低牆曰垣；「上」讀 shàng，本篇二見，此處作動詞，登上也；「屋」讀 wū。四字連言本篇一見：「踰垣上屋」，與「登高而歌」同類而加甚——登高分所可為，踰垣則非素所能。

In brief

Getting over walls and onto roofs — the strongest of the behaviours chapter 30 lists for severe Yangming disease, and the one that prompts its sharpest question: how can a sick man do what he could not do when well? The answer is that the four limbs are the root of all the yang, and when yang is exuberant the limbs become full enough to do what they could not do before. The ability is real but it belongs to the disease.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The act itself 踰垣上屋
越牆而登屋，非素所能
踰垣上屋 — Suwen 30
2
The question it raises 皆非其素所能也
病中所至，皆平日所不能至
所上之處，皆非其素所能也，病反能者，何也 — Suwen 30
3
The answer: fullness of the limbs 陽盛則四支實
四肢為諸陽之本，陽盛則實，實則能為
四支者，諸陽之本也，陽盛則四支實，實則能登高也 — Suwen 30
4
Its milder neighbour 登高而歌
登高分所可為，踰垣則加甚
登高而歌 — Suwen 30
5
The condition behind both 不食數日而猶能
不待榖氣而能作強，正見陽盛之極
或至不食數日，踰垣上屋 — Suwen 30
6
What it is not 非真能
病退陽衰則所為者復如常
實則能登高也 — Suwen 30

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·陽明脉解 Suwen 30 · 陽明脉解 Read in context →
病甚則棄衣而走，登高而歌，或至不食數日，踰垣上屋，所上之處，皆非其素所能也，病反能者，何也？ 病甚则弃衣而走，登高而歌，或至不食数日，逾垣上屋，所上之处，皆非其素所能也，病反能者，何也？
Bìng shèn zé qì yī ér zǒu, dēng gāo ér gē, huò zhì bù shí shù rì, yú yuán shàng wū, suǒ shàng zhī chù, jiē fēi qí sù suǒ néng yě, bìng fǎn néng zhě, hé yě?
When the illness is severe, the patient casts off his clothes and runs, climbs high and sings, and may go several days without eating; he scales walls and gets onto roofs — and the places he reaches are all places he was never able to reach before. How is it that in illness he can do what he could not do in health?
此句是本篇後段設問之主，亦全篇最奇處。「病」讀 bìng；「甚」讀 shèn；「則」讀 zé；「棄」讀 qì；「衣」讀 yī；「走」讀 zǒu；「登」讀 dēng；「高」讀 gāo；「歌」讀 gē；「或」讀 huò，本篇三見；「至」讀 zhì；「不」讀 bù；「食」讀 shí；**「數」讀 shù，幾也、若干也**，與讀 shuò（屢次）、讀 shǔ（計算）者別；「日」讀 rì；**「踰」讀 yú，底本作「踰」，與「逾」形異而音義同**；「垣」讀 yuán；「上」讀 shàng；「屋」讀 wū；「所」讀 suǒ；**「處」讀 chù**，底本作「處」，不作「处」；「皆」讀 jiē；「非」讀 fēi；**「素」讀 sù，平素、向來也**；「能」讀 néng；**「反」讀 fǎn，反而也**；「者」讀 zhě；「何」讀 hé；「也」讀 yě。「踰垣上屋」與「登高而歌」同類而加甚：登高分所可為，踰垣則非素所能，故下文即以「非其素所能」詰之。

Compounds built on this term

踰垣上屋
yú yuán shàng wū
scaling walls and roofs
本篇一見，病甚之極
垣
yuán
a wall
本篇一見，低牆曰垣
登高而歌
dēng gāo ér gē
climbing high and singing
本篇二見，與踰垣同類
所上之處
suǒ shàng zhī chù
the places he reaches
本篇一見，「皆非其素所能」所指

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 as) climbs over walls and onto roofsThey keep both objects and the physical sense, treating the phrase as a description of behaviour rather than a diagnosis.
Unschuld(rendered as) climbs over walls and up onto housesUnschuld's 'houses' for 屋 is closer to the ordinary word, at the cost of the slightly technical 'roof'.
This sitescaling walls and roofsWe keep 踰 as scaling and 屋 as roofs. The chapter's puzzle depends on the height being unusual — roofs are specifically not where a sick man is expected to be — and a rendering that flattens 屋 to 'houses' loses the vertical sense the argument turns on.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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Reading path

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