步

bù

Step · bu

Also rendered: The step (this site; literal, and it keeps 步 as a pace rather than as a degree) · Bu (transliteration; used where the step is being listed with the initial and the ke)

Cosmology

Reviewed · 2026-10-06

At a glance

Pinyin: bù
Simplified: 步
Literal: 步 bù — a pace, two strides, and in this chapter a fixed measure of the sky: 所謂步者，六十度而有奇 — what is called a step is sixty degrees and a remainder. Twenty-four steps heap up a surplus of a hundred ke, and that makes a day. Nine occurrences, six of them in the line that walks out the six positions of the year — 退行一步，復行一步 — one in the question about the step itself, and two in the rule.
Shuowen: **「步」讀 bù，本篇9見**；**《說文》：步，行也**；**本篇之「步」非行走之義，是天度之名：六十度而有奇為一步**；**「退行一步」「復行一步」凡6見**

In brief

The unit of sky this chapter walks out the year in: sixty degrees and a remainder, twenty-four of which make a day by heaping a surplus of a hundred ke. Six steps take you from the position of sovereign fire round through minister fire, earth, metal, water and wood and back again — which is why the chapter can say that the six qi answer to the changes of the five phases. The step is the largest of the three units the chapter measures with: the step of sixty degrees, the initial of thirty, and the ke of the water clock.

Senses in the classical corpus

The graph 步

步者行也，本篇用為天度之名

所謂步者，六十度而有奇 — Suwen 68

How big it is 六十度而有奇

一步六十度而有零餘

所謂步者，六十度而有奇 — Suwen 68

How many make a day 二十四步，積盈百刻而成日也

二十四步積盈百刻，以成一日

故二十四步，積盈百刻而成日也。 — Suwen 68

How the year is walked out 君火之右，退行一步，相火治之

自君火之右退行一步，即相火之位

君火之右，退行一步，相火治之 — Suwen 68

And onward 復行一步，土氣治之

復行一步則土氣治之，凡五步而復

復行一步，土氣治之 — Suwen 68

What it is smaller than 初凡三十度而有奇

初者三十度，得一步之半

初凡三十度而有奇，中氣同法 — Suwen 68

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

帝曰：善。願聞其步何如？歧伯曰：所謂步者，六十度而有奇，故二十四步，積盈百刻而成日也。帝曰：善。愿闻其步何如？歧伯曰：所谓步者，六十度而有奇，故二十四步，积盈百刻而成日也。

Dì yuē: shàn. Yuàn wén qí bù hé rú? Qí bó yuē: suǒ wèi bù zhě, liù shí dù ér yǒu jī, gù èr shí sì bù, jī yíng bǎi kè ér chéng rì yě.

Huang Di said: good. I wish to hear about the step. Qi Bo said: what is called a step is sixty degrees and a remainder; thus twenty-four steps heap up a surplus of one hundred ke, and that makes a day.

**「步」本篇9見，此段有其三**；**「度」讀 dù，本篇2見；六十度、三十度**；**「奇」此讀 jī，本篇2見，皆零餘之數**；**「積」讀 jī，本篇1見；積盈百刻而成日**；**「盈」讀 yíng，本篇1見；積盈者，積其零餘**

Suwen 74 Suwen 74 · 至真要大論 Read in context →

帝曰：地化柰何？歧伯曰：司天同𠉀，間氣皆然。帝曰：間氣何謂？歧伯曰：司左右者，是謂間氣也。帝曰：何以異之？歧伯曰：主歲者紀歲，間氣者紀步也。帝曰：善。歲主柰何？帝曰：地化奈何？歧伯曰：司天同候，间气皆然。帝曰：间气何谓？歧伯曰：司左右者，是谓间气也。帝曰：何以异之？歧伯曰：主岁者纪岁，间气者纪步也。帝曰：善。岁主奈何？

Dì yuē: dì huà nài hé? Qí bó yuē: sī tiān tóng hòu, jiān qì jiē rán. Dì yuē: jiān qì hé wèi? Qí bó yuē: sī zuǒ yòu zhě, shì wèi jiān qì yě. Dì yuē: hé yǐ yì zhī? Qí bó yuē: zhǔ suì zhě jì suì, jiān qì zhě jì bù yě. Dì yuē: shàn. Suì zhǔ nài hé?

Huang Di said: and what of the transformation of the earth? Qi Bo said: it is watched by the same rule as the governing of the heaven, and so it is with every intercalary qi. Huang Di said: what is meant by the intercalary qi? Qi Bo said: the qi that has charge of what stands to the left and the right of it — this is what is called the intercalary qi. Huang Di said: how do they differ? Qi Bo said: what governs the year is counted by the year; the intercalary qi is counted by the step. Huang Di said: good. And what of what governs the year?

**「步」本篇1見，止在此句**；**此段「主歲者紀歲，間氣者紀步也」，步與歲相對**

Compounds built on this term

六節

liù jié

the six divisions

本篇1見；六節氣位，即六步之位

初中

chū zhōng

the initial and the middle

本篇3見；初三十度而有奇，得一步之半

刻

kè

the ke

本篇55見；百刻成日，二十四步積盈而成

二十四步

èr shí sì bù

twenty-four steps

本篇1見；積盈百刻而成日

How it has been translated

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

This site	the step	literal from 步; the chapter walks the year out step by step, and the graph is the walk
Transliteration	bu	how the phrase appears in writing on the 運氣 method; right about the referent, and it drops the walking
Descriptive	the sixty-degree interval	exact, and it turns a pace into a number: the chapter says 步 and then says how many make a day

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-06

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