孤藏

gū zàng

The solitary viscus · gu zang

Also rendered: the solitary viscus (Literal; keeps both aloneness and centrality) · the lone depot (Wiseman-style — depot for 藏, but depot reads as a building) · the isolated organ (Too modern: 藏 is not an organ in the anatomical sense) · gu zang (Bare transliteration)

Reviewed · 2026-09

At a glance

Pinyin
gū zàng
Simplified
孤藏
Literal
孤 fatherless, alone, without counterpart (《說文》: 無父也); 藏 store, to store — the viscera as storehouses (《說文》有「臧」,善也,藏為其後起字;醫書以藏為五藏字,讀 zàng). The one store that has no season of its own.
Shuowen
《說文解字》:孤,無父也(引申為單獨無偶);藏,《說文》作「臧」,善也,後起字作藏,醫書讀 zàng,為五藏字。

In brief

The spleen, and the reason it cannot be read like the others. Liver, heart, lung and kidney each take a season — spring, summer, autumn, winter — and each therefore has a pulse shape that should appear when its season comes round. The spleen takes none; it is earth, standing at the centre, and its office is to irrigate the four quarters. That is why its normal state cannot be seen in the pulse at all: it is distributed among the other four rather than present in its own right. Only its disorder shows — arriving like flowing water when it exceeds, like a bird’s beak when it falls short.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The viscus with no season of its own 脾脉獨何主
四時各有其脈,脾獨無專時
四時之序,逆從之變異也,然脾脉獨何主? — Suwen 19
2
Earth at the centre 脾脉者,土也
脾屬土而居中
脾脉者,土也,孤藏以灌四傍者也 — Suwen 19
3
Its office: to irrigate 以灌四傍
灌溉四旁之藏,故不專一時
脾脉者,土也,孤藏以灌四傍者也 — Suwen 19
4
Its normality is invisible 善者不可得見
常則不可見,唯病乃見
善者不可得見,惡者可見 — Suwen 19
5
Its disorder has two shapes 如水之流 / 如鳥之喙
太過如水流,不及如鳥喙
其來如水之流者,此謂太過,病在外;如鳥之喙者,此謂不及,病在中 — Suwen 19

Occurrences in the classics

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

Display
2 passages
素問·玉機真藏論 Suwen 19 · 玉機真藏論 Read in context →
帝曰:善。帝曰:四時之序,逆從之變異也,然脾脉獨何主?歧伯曰:脾脉者,土也,孤藏以灌四傍者也。 帝曰:善。帝曰:四时之序,逆从之变异也,然脾脉独何主?歧伯曰:脾脉者,土也,孤藏以灌四傍者也。
Dì yuē: shàn. Dì yuē: sì shí zhī xù, nì cóng zhī biàn yì yě, rán pí mài dú hé zhǔ? Qí bó yuē: pí mài zhě, tǔ yě, gū zàng yǐ guàn sì bàng zhě yě.
“Good. The order of the four seasons and the variations of following and counterflow are now clear — but what does the spleen pulse alone preside over?” It is earth: the solitary viscus that irrigates the four quarters.
本篇論四時之脈畢,獨設一問:「然脾脉獨何主?」歧伯以「孤藏以灌四傍」答之——脾無專時,故寄旺於四時而灌溉四藏。與第九篇「藏象」(脾屬土而為倉廩之本)、第八篇「十二官」(脾胃者倉廩之官)同條而義進:彼論脾之職,本篇則論脾之所以不可得見——善者不可得見,惡者可見,以其氣散布四旁而不自見於脈故也。
素問·逆調論 Suwen 34 · 逆調論 Read in context →
所以不能凍慄者,肝一陽也,心二陽也,腎孤藏也,一水不能勝二火,故不能凍慄,病名曰骨痺,是人當攣節也。 所以不能冻栗者,肝一阳也,心二阳也,肾孤藏也,一水不能胜二火,故不能冻栗,病名曰骨痹,是人当挛节也。
Suǒ yǐ bù néng dòng lì zhě, gān yī yáng yě, xīn èr yáng yě, shèn gū zàng yě, yī shuǐ bù néng shèng èr huǒ, gù bù néng dòng lì, bìng míng yuē gǔ bì, shì rén dāng luán jié yě.
The reason there is no shivering: the liver is one yang, the heart a second yang, and the kidney a solitary store — one water cannot overcome two fires, hence no shivering. The disease is called bone impediment, and such a person will have contracted joints.
「孤藏」之目於本站已立(id 635),現收一條:第十九篇「脾脉者,土也,孤藏以灌四傍者也」——**以孤藏屬脾**。**本篇之孤藏則屬腎**,同一詞而所指異,是此二字最宜著眼處——「所」讀 suǒ;「以」讀 yǐ;「不」讀 bù;「能」讀 néng;**「凍」讀 dòng,本篇三見**——从仌,寒而凝也;**「慄」讀 lì,本篇三見**——从心从栗,戰抖也,**底本从心不从木,不作「栗」**;「者」讀 zhě;**「肝」讀 gān,本篇惟此一見**;「一」讀 yī;「陽」讀 yáng;「也」讀 yě;**「心」讀 xīn,本篇惟此一見**;「二」讀 èr;「腎」讀 shèn,本篇 6 見;**「孤」讀 gū,本篇惟此一見**——从子从瓜,獨也;**「藏」讀 zàng,本篇三見(孤藏、何藏、水藏),皆讀 zàng**——藏府之藏,**底本作「藏」,不作「臟」(「臟」)**;「水」讀 shuǐ;「勝」讀 shèng;「兩」讀 liǎng;「火」讀 huǒ;「故」讀 gù;「病」讀 bìng;**「名」讀 míng,本篇惟此一見**;「曰」讀 yuē;「骨」讀 gǔ;「痺」讀 bì;「是」讀 shì;「人」讀 rén;「當」讀 dāng;**「攣」讀 luán,本篇惟此一見**——拘牽也;**「節」讀 jié,本篇惟此一見**——骨節也。**二字之義由此而廣**:第十九篇之孤,孤於無專時(脾不主一時,故其常不可見);本篇之孤,孤於無與為耦(腎為一水而對肝心二火)。**孤者不必一處,凡無耦者皆可曰孤**——讀者勿以第十九篇之脾而疑本篇之腎。**「孤藏」二字是此節之眼**:肝心為二陽而腎獨為一水,孤則不勝,**不勝則寒而不慄——寒甚至骨而反不凍慄,正以陽猶在也**;若陽亦亡,則慄矣。**本篇即以此孤字推出「一水不能勝二火」**,故下文斷之曰「病名曰骨痺,是人當攣節也」——**腎孤則骨失其養,痺在骨則節為之攣**。**與第十九篇對讀之益**:彼以孤藏屬脾而見其常之不可診,此以孤藏屬腎而見其病之必至;**一則孤之為難知,一則孤之為必敗**。

Compounds built on this term

孤
gū
solitary, without counterpart
說文:無父也
藏
zàng
the viscus as storehouse
醫書讀 zàng
脾
pí
the spleen
說文:土藏也
灌四傍
guàn sì bàng
irrigating the four quarters
孤藏之職
中央土
zhōng yāng tǔ
the central earth
脾之位

How it has been translated

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

Wiseman & Fenglone depotTheir 藏 is consistently depot.
Unschuldthe solitary depotKeeps 孤 as solitary.
This sitethe solitary viscus孤 in 說文 is 無父 — without a counterpart — and that is precisely the point the chapter makes: the other four have seasons to pair with, this one does not, and so its healthy state is by definition invisible. Depot is defensible as a rendering of 藏 but it is a warehouse, and what is at issue here is a viscus that gives rather than keeps — it irrigates the four quarters. Viscus keeps it in the body and lets the irrigation image stand.

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-09

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