九野

jiǔ yě

The nine regions · jiu ye

Also rendered: the nine regions (Literal for 野 as country divided) · the nine fields (Closer to agriculture, further from the sky) · the nine provinces (九州 is the other word; 野 is not quite that) · jiu ye (Bare transliteration)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin: jiǔ yě
Simplified: 九野
Literal: 野 open country beyond the city wall (《說文》: 野，郊外也 — 段注: 野者，郊之外也). 九野 the nine fields into which the sky — and the land under it — is divided, each matched to a province and to a quarter of the heavens.
Shuowen: 《說文解字》：野，郊外也（段玉裁注：邑外謂之郊，郊外謂之野；引申之，凡質樸無文者亦曰野）。

In brief

The nine-fold division of space that gives the nine probes their number. The arithmetic runs outward from heaven to earth to the human and triples to nine, 以應九野 — to answer to the nine regions; and the chapter then runs it inward again, 九分爲九野，九野爲九藏 — divided into nine regions, the nine regions become nine stores. It is the same move the chapter makes with everything: a number from the sky is applied to the landscape, and the landscape is then read back onto the body. The regions themselves are not described here; what the chapter wants is the correspondence, and the licence it gives to divide a body nine ways.

Senses in the classical corpus

What the nine answers to 以應九野

三三而九，以應九野

三三者九，以應九野 — Suwen 20

Turned back onto the body 九分爲九野，九野爲九藏

九野既分，即以為九藏

三而三之，合則爲九，九分爲九野，九野爲九藏 — Suwen 20

Its place in the arithmetic 一者天，二者地，三者人

由三而九，天地人各三

一者天，二者地，三者人，因而三之 — Suwen 20

What it licenses 故人有三部，部有三候

人亦以九分，故有九候

故人有三部，部有三候，以決死生 — Suwen 20

The stores it becomes 神藏五，形藏四，合爲九藏

九野為九藏，神藏五而形藏四

故神藏五，形藏四，合爲九藏 — Suwen 20

Occurrences in the classics

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

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3 passages

素問·三部九候論 Suwen 20 · 三部九候論 Read in context →

三部者，各有天，各有地，各有人，三而成天，三而成地，三而成人。三而三之，合則爲九，九分爲九野，九野爲九藏。三部者，各有天，各有地，各有人，三而成天，三而成地，三而成人。三而三之，合则为九，九分为九野，九野为九藏。

Sān bù zhě, gè yǒu tiān, gè yǒu dì, gè yǒu rén, sān ér chéng tiān, sān ér chéng dì, sān ér chéng rén. Sān ér sān zhī, hé zé wéi jiǔ, jiǔ fēn wéi jiǔ yě, jiǔ yě wéi jiǔ zàng.

The three sectors each have heaven, each have earth, each have human: three make heaven, three make earth, three make the human. Triple three and the sum is nine; nine divides into the nine regions; the nine regions are the nine storehouses.

九野者，本篇由數入身之樞紐。上文「三三者九，以應九野」，是以天之數應地之野；此處「九分爲九野，九野爲九藏」，則復以地之野應人之藏。天、地、人三層遞轉，而皆以九貫之。與第九篇「六六之節」「九藏」之說同為以數配藏之例，而本篇所用尤專——九野不復實指一方，直為九數之目，以證人身可得而九分也。

素問·寶命全形論 Suwen 25 · 寶命全形論 Read in context →

帝曰：人生有形，不離陰陽。天地合氣，别爲九野，分爲四時。帝曰：人生有形，不离阴阳。天地合气，别为九野，分为四时。

Dì yuē: rén shēng yǒu xíng, bù lí yīn yáng. Tiān dì hé qì, bié wéi jiǔ yě, fēn wéi sì shí.

The Emperor says: A person is born with a form and never leaves yin and yang. The qi of heaven and earth conjoins, is divided into the nine regions, and is apportioned into the four seasons.

「天地合氣，别爲九野，分爲四時」：本篇之九野，與四時並舉，皆為天地合氣之所分——九野以地分，四時以時分。與第二十篇已載者同條而義別：彼以九野配人身之九野而言刺法之禁，本篇則以九野為天地合氣之分，屬於黃帝設問之辭。「别」讀 bié，不作「別」。

素問·鍼解 Suwen 54 · 鍼解 Read in context →

歧伯曰：夫一天、二地、三人、四時、五音、六律、七星、八風、九野，身形亦應之，鍼各有所宜，故曰九鍼。歧伯曰：夫一天、二地、三人、四时、五音、六律、七星、八风、九野，身形亦应之，针各有所宜，故曰九针。

Qí bó yuē: fú yī tiān, èr dì, sān rén, sì shí, wǔ yīn, liù lǜ, qī xīng, bā fēng, jiǔ yě, shēn xíng yì yìng zhī, zhēn gè yǒu suǒ yí, gù yuē jiǔ zhēn.

Qibo says: one is heaven, two is earth, three is man, four the seasons, five the tones, six the pitch-pipes, seven the stars, eight the winds, nine the wilds — the body in its form answers to them as well, and each needle has what it is fitted to; hence they are called the nine needles.

「八風、九「野」讀 yě，身形亦應之」——**本篇「九野」2見，讀 jiǔ yě**；**一在九數之九，一在「九野一節俞應之，以候閉節」**；**本目為第二十篇所立（九分為九野，九野為九藏）**；**本篇以九野配人身之九竅三百六十五絡，與第二十篇「自天而降於人」同一路數**

Compounds built on this term

野

yě

open country

說文：郊外也

九

jiǔ

nine

天地之至數，終於九焉

九藏

jiǔ zàng

the nine stores

九野為九藏

九分

jiǔ fēn

divided into nine

九分爲九野

九野爲九藏

jiǔ yě wéi jiǔ zàng

the nine regions become the nine stores

本篇由天之地、由地之人之轉語

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Feng	the nine regions	野 is rendered region in the cosmological passages.
Unschuld	the nine [regions of the] world / nine fields	He varies with the passage, keeping the sense of divided open land.
This site	the nine regions	野 is what lies outside the wall — land, not administrative unit — and the chapter is mapping, not governing: the nine are arrived at by arithmetic (three times three) rather than by listing provinces, and they are immediately traded for nine stores inside a body. Region keeps it spatial and uncommitted. Provinces would be 九州, which is a different and more political division; fields would put ploughing into a sentence about stars.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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