Classica Sinica Medica

游部

yóu bù

The roaming division · you bu

Also rendered: The wandering department (keeps the metaphor, and it sounds bureaucratic) · The circulating region (clear, and 部's sense of a marked division is lost)

Vessels

Reviewed · 2026-10-18

At a glance

Pinyin
yóu bù
Simplified
游部
Literal
游 yóu — to roam, to move without settling; 部 bù — a division, a marked-off region. The division that is a division without a fixed seat: the one yang's place among the three.
Shuowen
《說文》：游，旌旗之流也，從㫃，汓聲，本謂旌旗之旒，引申為游行不定。《說文》：部，天水狄部，從邑，咅聲，本為地名，引申為部分。本篇「游部」1見，即「一陽爲游部」；「游」字1見、「部」字1見。三陽爲經、二陽爲維、一陽爲游部，經言其直，維言其繫，部言其分；三者皆就脉之部位立名，而游部獨無定所。

In brief

The third of the three names in the chapter’s first answer: 三陽爲經，二陽爲維，一陽爲游部. The three are not three vessels but three ways of describing where the yang qi runs — the warp that goes straight, the weft that ties, and the division that roams. 游 carries the sense of the pennant’s streamer, something that moves and does not settle; 部 is a marked-off region. Put together, the phrase says that the one yang has a region but not a fixed seat, which is why it is the one yang that is felt 上連人迎 in the answer that follows, and why the lesser yang is the channel of the pivot in later doctrine. The chapter uses the three names to reach a single conclusion: 此知五藏終始 — with warp, weft and roaming division in hand, the beginning and end of the five viscera can be known.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The third of three 一陽爲游部
三陽爲經、二陽爲維、一陽爲游部
Three yang is the warp, two yang is the net, one yang is the roaming division.
一陽爲游部 — 素問·陰陽類論
2
What 游 says 游
游者行也，不居一所，如旌旗之旒
You means to move, not staying in one place, like the streamers of a banner.
一陽爲游部 — 素問·陰陽類論
3
What 部 says 部
部者分也，脉氣所分之界
Bu means a division, the boundary marked out by vessel qi.
一陽爲游部 — 素問·陰陽類論
4
Set against warp and weft 經、維、部
一直一繫一游，三者皆言部位
One straight, one tethered, one roaming: all three speak of position.
三陽爲經，二陽爲維 — 素問·陰陽類論
5
Why the one yang 一陽
少陽主轉樞，其氣行而不居
Shao yang governs the turning hinge; its qi moves and does not settle.
一陽爲游部 — 素問·陰陽類論
6
What the three names reach 此知五藏終始
三部既定，五藏之終始可推
Once the three divisions are fixed, the beginning and end of the five viscera can be inferred.
此知五藏終始 — 素問·陰陽類論

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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1 passages
素問·陰陽類論 Read in context →
帝曰：三陽爲經，二陽爲維，一陽爲游部，此知五藏終始。三陽爲表，二陰爲裏，一陰至絶，作朔晦却具合，以正其理。 帝曰：三阳为经，二阳为维，一阳为游部，此知五藏终始。三阳为表，二阴为里，一阴至绝，作朔晦却具合，以正其理。
Dì yuē: sān yáng wéi jīng, èr yáng wéi wéi, yī yáng wéi yóu bù, cǐ zhī wǔ zàng zhōng shǐ. Sān yáng wéi biǎo, èr yīn wéi lǐ, yī yīn zhì jué, zuò shuò huì què jù hé, yǐ zhèng qí lǐ.
Huang Di said: The three yang are the warp, the two yang the weft, the one yang the roaming division — by this one knows the beginning and the end of the five viscera. The three yang are the outer, the two yin the inner; the one yin comes to its utter end, making new moon and dark moon, and yet joins with them: by this the principle is set right.
「游部」本篇1見，即「一陽爲游部」；「游」字1見、「部」字1見。此句與「三陽爲經」「二陽爲維」鼎立：經者直，維者繫，部者分而能游。下文六脉分叙，一陽獨言「上連人迎」，正見其游行不居之象。

Compounds built on this term

一陽爲游部
yī yáng wéi yóu bù
the one yang is the roaming division
本篇所以名一陽
三陽爲經
sān yáng wéi jīng
the three yang are the warp
與游部並舉
二陽爲維
èr yáng wéi wéi
the two yang are the weft
與游部並舉
五藏終始
wǔ zàng zhōng shǐ
the beginning and end of the five viscera
三部所知者

How it has been translated

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

This sitethe roaming divisionthe one yang's place, a region without a fixed seat
Literalroaming divisionexact for both characters
Clinicalthe mobile sectorclear, and it is not the text's image

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-18

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Reading path

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