The Most Comprehensive Correspondence Table of the Five Elements System Worth Collecting

The Five Elements (Wu Xing) is a systematic view from ancient Chinese philosophy, widely used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Feng Shui, fortune-telling, physiognomy, and divination. The significance of the Five Elements encompasses five basic dynamics through the evolution of Yin and Yang: Metal (Jin, 代表敛聚), Wood (Mu, 代表生长), Water (Shui, 代表浸润), Fire (Huo, 代表破灭), and Earth (Tu, 代表融合). Ancient Chinese philosophers used the theory of the Five Elements to explain the formation of all things in the world and their interrelationships. It emphasizes wholeness and aims to describe the forms of movement and transformation of things. Yin and Yang is an ancient theory of opposites and unity, while the Five Elements is a primitive system theory.

Five Elements	Wood	Fire	Earth	Metal	Water
Five Stars	Jupiter	Mars	Saturn	Venus	Mercury
Five Directions	East	South	Center	West	North
Five Spirits	Qinglong (Azure Dragon)	Zhuque (Vermilion Bird)	Qilin (Unicorn)	Baihu (White Tiger)	Xuanwu (Black Tortoise)
Five Seasons	Spring	Summer	Long Summer	Autumn	Winter
Six Qi	Wind	Heat, Fire	Humidity	Dryness	Cold
Five Promotions	Birth	Growth	Transformation	Harvest	Storage
Five Times	Daybreak	Midday	Sunset	Nightfall	Midnight
Eight Trigrams	Zhen (Thunder)	Li (Fire)	Kun (Earth)	Qian (Heaven)	Kan (Water)
Heavenly Stems	Jia (Wood)	Bing (Fire)	Wu (Earth)	Geng (Metal)	Ren (Water)
Earthly Branches	Yin (Tiger)	Si (Snake)	Chen (Dragon)	Shen (Monkey)	Zi (Rat)
Five Numbers	Three, Seven	One, Nine	Five, Five	Two, Eight	Four, Six

地象

Five Colors	Green	Red	Yellow	White	Black
Five Smells	Foul Fishy	Burnt	Fragrant	Fishy	Rotten Decayed
Five Tastes	Sour	Bitter	Sweet	Spicy	Salty
Five Qi (Food and Medicine)	Warm	Hot	Neutral	Cool	Cold
Five Grains	Hemp	Wheat	Millet (Husked Rice)	Yellow Millet (Rice)	Soybean
Five Fruits	Plum	Apricot	Date	Peach	Chestnut
Five Vegetables	Leek	Garlic	Sunflower	Onion	Mint
Five Meats	Dog	Sheep	Cow	Chicken	Pig
Five Insects	Fur	Feather	Skin	Shell	Scales
Five Longs	Qilin (Unicorn)	Feng (Phoenix)	Human	Turtle	Dragon

人象

Five Organs	Liver	Heart (Pericardium)	Spleen	Lung	Kidney
Five Bowels	Gallbladder	Small Intestine, San Jiao	Stomach	Large Intestine	Bladder
Five Bodies	Tendons	Blood (Vessels)	Muscle	Skin	Bone, Marrow
Five Stores	Blood	Pulse	Nourishment	Qi	Essence
Five Emotions	Anger	Joy	Thought	Worry, Sadness	Fear, Shock
Five Fluids	Tears	Sweat	Saliva	Mucus	Spit
Five Orifices	Eyes	Tongue	Mouth	Nose	Ears
Five Sounds	Call	Laugh	Sing	Cry	Moan
Five Tones	Jiao	Zheng	Gong	Shang	Yu
Five Spirits	Hun	Shen	Yi	Po	Zhi
Five Fingers	Index Finger	Middle Finger	Thumb	Ring Finger	Little Finger
Five Natures	Curved and Straight	Flame Up	Harvest	From Reform	Moisten and Descend
Five Movements	Grip	Worry	Hiccup	Cough	Shiver
Five Pores	Well (Exit)	Stream (Flow)	Yuan (Acupuncture Point)	Jing (Channel)	He (Entry)

Interrelationships of the Five Elements

Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon Five Elements Summary Table

Five Organs	Liver	Heart	Spleen	Lung	Kidney
Five Organs’ Officials	General’s Official Strategic Planning Arises Here	Ruler’s Official Spirit Arises Here	Granary’s Official Five Tastes Arise Here	Adviser’s Official Regulation Arises Here	Strength’s Official Skill Arises Here
Five Bowels	Gallbladder	Small Intestine	Stomach	Large Intestine	Bladder
Five Bowels’ Officials	Central Official Decision Arises Here	Receiving Official Transformation Arises Here	Granary’s Official Five Tastes Arise Here	Transmission Official Change Arises Here	State Capital’s Official Fluids Stored Here Qi Transformation Can Arise Here
San Jiao Pericardium	San Jiao is the Official of Decision-Making, Waterway Arises Here. Heart Protector is the Official of Joy and Happiness Arises Here. (Heart Protector = Pericardium)
Organ Images	Liver	Heart	Spleen, Stomach, Large Intestine, Small Intestine, San Jiao, Bladder	Lung	Kidney
Root of Extremities Residence of Po Its Flourishing is in the Nails Its Filling is in the Tendons Minor Yang in Yang Connected to Spring Qi	Root of Life Transformation of Spirit Its Flourishing is in the Face Its Filling is in the Blood Vessels Major Yang in Yang Connected to Summer Qi	Root of Granary Residence of Nourishment Its Flourishing is in the Lips Its Filling is in the Flesh Most Yin Type Connected to Earth Qi	Root of Qi Residence of Po Its Flourishing is in the Hair Its Filling is in the Skin Major Yin in Yang Connected to Autumn Qi	Root of Storage Residence of Essence Its Flourishing is in the Hair Its Filling is in the Bone Minor Yin in Yin Connected to Winter Qi
Eleven Organs are Dependent on the Gallbladder.
Five Organs Generation	Liver’s Connection is with Tendons, its Flourishing is in the Nails, its Mastery is in the Lung.	Heart’s Connection is with Vessels, its Flourishing is in the Color, its Mastery is in the Kidney.	Spleen’s Connection is with Flesh, its Flourishing is in the Lips, its Mastery is in the Liver.	Lung’s Connection is with Skin, its Flourishing is in the Hair, its Mastery is in the Heart.	Kidney’s Connection is with Bone, its Flourishing is in the Hair, its Mastery is in the Spleen.
Five Organs’ Mastery Five Fillings (Body)	Tendons	Vessels	Flesh	Skin	Bone, Marrow
Five Flourishings	Nails	Face	Lips	Hair	Hair
Five Orifices	Eyes	Tongue	Mouth	Nose	Ears
Five Organs’ Fluids	Tears	Sweat	Saliva	Mucus	Spit
Five Organs’ Storage	Hun Liver Stores Blood Blood Houses Hun	Shen Heart Stores Vessels Vessels House Shen	Yi Spleen Stores Nourishment Nourishment Houses Yi	Po Lung Stores Qi Qi Houses Hun	Zhi Kidney Stores Essence Essence Houses Zhi
Five Emotions	Anger	Joy	Thought	Worry, Sadness	Fear, Shock
Joint Distribution	Both Armpits	Both Elbows	Both Hips	Both Elbows	Both Knees
Heat Distribution	Left Cheek Red	Entire Face Red	Nose Red	Right Cheek Red	Both Cheeks Red
Tongue Distribution	Both Sides of Tongue (Liver and Gallbladder)	Tip of Tongue	Center of Tongue (Lung and Stomach)	Center of Tongue (Lung and Stomach)	Root of Tongue
Qi and Blood Channels Injection Points	All Tendons Belong to Joints (During Sleep, Blood Returns to the Liver)	All Vessels Belong to Eyes, All Blood Belongs to Heart	All Qi Belongs to Lung	All Marrow Belongs to Brain
Five Essences Combined	Essence Qi Combined in Liver Leads to Worry	Essence Qi Combined in Heart Leads to Joy	Essence Qi Combined in Spleen Leads to Fear	Essence Qi Combined in Lung Leads to Sadness	Essence Qi Combined in Kidney Leads to Fear
Essence Qi Injection (Five Wheels)	Essence Qi of Five Organs and Six Bowels All Injects into the Eyes and Becomes Essence. The Essence of the Eye is the Pupil, the Essence of Bone is the Iris, the Essence of Tendon is the Black Eye, the Essence of Blood is the Vein, the Essence of Qi is the White Eye, the Essence of Muscle is the Constraint, wrapping the Tendons, Bones, Blood, and Qi Essence together with the Vessels, belonging to the Brain, and exiting from the Nape.
Liver	Heart	Spleen	Lung	Kidney
Black Eye	Vein	Constraint	White Eye	Pupil
Wind Wheel	Blood Wheel	Flesh Wheel	Qi Wheel	Water Wheel
Cornea, Black Eye	Blood Vein of Eye Corner	Eye Lid, Eye Skin	Sclera, White Eye	Pupil

Five Colors	Green	Red	Yellow	White	Black
Five Colors of Death	Color Appears Green Like Grass Indicates Death	Color Appears Red Like Blood Indicates Death	Color Appears Yellow Like Bitter Orange Indicates Death	Color Appears White Like Dry Bone Indicates Death	Color Appears Black Like Charcoal Indicates Death
Five Colors of Life	Green Like Emerald Indicates Life	Red Like Cockscomb Indicates Life	Yellow Like Crab Abdomen Indicates Life	White Like Pig Fat Indicates Life	Black Like Crow Feather Indicates Life
Five Organs’ External Flourishing	Flourishing in Liver, Wrapped in White	Flourishing in Heart, Wrapped in Red	Flourishing in Spleen, Wrapped in Gourd Fruit	Flourishing in Lung, Wrapped in Red	Flourishing in Kidney, Wrapped in Purple
Color and Taste Corresponding to Five Organs	Green Corresponds to Liver Sour Green Corresponds to Tendons	Red Corresponds to Heart Bitter Red Corresponds to Vessels	Yellow Corresponds to Spleen Sweet Yellow Corresponds to Flesh	White Corresponds to Lung Spicy White Corresponds to Skin	Black Corresponds to Kidney Salty Black Corresponds to Bone
Life and Death Facial Features	Generally, Five Colors, Yellow Face with Green Eyes, Yellow Face with Red Eyes, Yellow Face with White Eyes, Yellow Face with Black Eyes, All Indicate Survival. Green Face with Red Eyes, Red Face with White Eyes, Black Face with White Eyes, Red Face with Green Eyes, All Indicate Death.

Five Tastes	Sour	Bitter	Sweet	Spicy	Salty
Five Tastes’ Entry	Sour Enters Liver	Bitter Enters Heart	Sweet Enters Spleen	Spicy Enters Lung	Salty Enters Kidney
Five Tastes’ Combination	Liver Desires Sour	Heart Desires Bitter	Spleen Desires Sweet	Lung Desires Spicy	Kidney Desires Salty
Five Tastes’ Movement	Sour Moves Tendons Excessive Consumption Leads to Urinary Issues (Hands and Feet Inflexible)	Salty Moves Blood Excessive Consumption Leads to Thirst (Dry Mouth)	Sweet Moves Flesh Excessive Consumption Leads to Distress (Worry)	Spicy Moves Qi Excessive Consumption Leads to Emptiness (Feeling Empty)	Bitter Moves Bone Excessive Consumption Leads to Vomiting
Five Tastes’ Prohibition	Sour Moves Tendons, Tendon Issues Should Avoid Excessive Sour	Salty Moves Blood, Blood Issues Should Avoid Excessive Salty	Sweet Moves Flesh, Flesh Issues Should Avoid Excessive Sweet	Spicy Moves Qi, Qi Issues Should Avoid Excessive Spicy	Bitter Moves Bone, Bone Issues Should Avoid Excessive Bitter
Five Prohibitions	Liver Issues Prohibit Spicy	Heart Issues Prohibit Salty	Spleen Issues Prohibit Sour	Lung Issues Prohibit Bitter	Kidney Issues Prohibit Sweet
Five Tastes’ Harm	Excessive Spicy Leads to Tight Tendons and Dried Nails (Excessively Spicy, Tendons Relax, Spirit is Affected)	Excessive Salty Leads to Stiffness and Color Change (Excessively Salty, Bone Qi is Exhausted, Short Muscles, Heart Qi is Suppressed)	Excessive Sour Leads to Flesh Wrinkling and Lips Peeling (Excessively Sour, Liver Qi is Depleted, Spleen Qi is Exhausted)	Excessive Bitter Leads to Dry Skin and Hair Loss	Excessive Sweet Leads to Bone Pain and Hair Loss (Excessively Sweet, Heart Qi is Overwhelmed, Color Turns Black, Kidney Qi is Unbalanced)
Five Appropriates	Liver Color is Green, Appropriate to Eat Sweet	Heart Color is Red, Appropriate to Eat Sour	Spleen Color is Yellow, Appropriate to Eat Salty	Lung Color is White, Appropriate to Eat Bitter	Kidney Color is Black, Appropriate to Eat Spicy
Five Diseases’ Appropriate Foods	Liver Disease Should Eat Husked Rice, Beef, Dates, Sunflower	Heart Disease Should Eat Hemp, Dog Meat, Plum, Leek	Spleen Disease Should Eat Soybean, Pork, Chestnut, Mint	Lung Disease Should Eat Wheat, Lamb, Apricot, Garlic	Kidney Disease Should Eat Yellow Millet, Chicken, Peach, Onion
Five Organs’ Suffering	Liver Suffers from Urgency, Urgently Eat Sweet to Alleviate	Heart Suffers from Slowness, Urgently Eat Sour to Collect	Spleen Suffers from Humidity, Urgently Eat Bitter to Dry	Lung Suffers from Qi Reversal, Urgently Eat Bitter to Drain	Kidney Suffers from Dryness, Urgently Eat Spicy to Moisten
Five Organs’ Desires	Liver Desires to Spread, Urgently Eat Spicy to Spread	Heart Desires to Soften, Urgently Eat Salty to Soften	Spleen Desires to Relax, Urgently Eat Sweet to Relax	Lung Desires to Collect, Urgently Eat Sour to Collect	Kidney Desires to Strengthen, Urgently Eat Bitter to Strengthen
Supplement	Use Spicy to Supplement	Use Salty to Supplement	Use Sweet to Supplement	Use Sour to Supplement	Use Bitter to Supplement
Drain	Sour Drains	Sweet Drains	Bitter Drains	Spicy Drains	Salty Drains

Five Elements System

Five Elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water;

Five Numbers: Eight, Seven, Five, Nine, Six;

Five Directions: East, South, Center, West, North;

Five Seasons: Spring, Summer, Long Summer, Autumn, Winter;

Five Qi: Wind, Heat, Humidity, Dryness, Fire;

Five Colors: Green, Red, Yellow, White, Black;

Five Tones: Jiao, Zheng, Gong, Shang, Yu;

Five Tastes: Sour, Bitter, Sweet, Spicy, Salty;

Five Smells: Foul, Burnt, Fragrant, Fishy, Rotten;

Five Grains: Wheat, Millet, Rice, Beans;

Five Livestock: Chicken, Sheep, Cow, Horse, Pig;

Five Organs: Liver, Heart, Spleen, Lung, Kidney;

Five Bowels: Gallbladder, Small Intestine, Stomach, Large Intestine, Bladder;

Five Spirits: Hun, Shen, Yi, Po, Zhi;

Five Fluids: Tears, Sweat, Saliva, Mucus, Spit;

Five Bodies: Tendons, Vessels, Flesh, Skin, Bone;

Five Points: Neck, Chest, Spine, Shoulder, Waist;

Five Sounds: Call, Laugh, Sing, Cry, Moan;

Five Emotions: Anger, Joy, Thought, Sadness, Fear;

Five Poisons: Anger, Hatred, Resentment, Annoyance, Worry

Five Organs	Liver	Heart	Spleen	Lung	Kidney
Storage House Deficiency Excess	Liver Stores Blood Blood Houses Hun Liver Qi Deficiency Leads to Fear Excess Leads to Anger	Heart Stores Vessels Vessels House Shen Heart Qi Deficiency Leads to Sadness Excess Leads to Uncontrollable Laughter	Spleen Stores Nourishment Nourishment Houses Yi Spleen Qi Deficiency Leads to Inactivity, Five Organs Unsettled Excess Leads to Abdominal Distension, Urinary Issues	Lung Stores Qi Qi Houses Hun Lung Qi Deficiency Leads to Nasal Congestion, Shortness of Breath Excess Leads to Coughing, Chest Fullness	Kidney Stores Essence Essence Houses Zhi Kidney Qi Deficiency Leads to Coldness Excess Leads to Distension
Five Qi’s Illness	In Liver, it is Speech; In Gallbladder, it is Anger	In Heart, it is Sighing; In Small Intestine, it is Diarrhea	In Spleen, it is Swallowing; In Stomach, it is Reversal, Hiccups, Fear	In Lung, it is Coughing; In Large Intestine, it is Diarrhea	In Kidney, it is Deficiency; In Lower Jiao, it is Water Bladder Issues, Edema, Incontinence
Five Essences Combined	Essence Qi Combined in Liver Leads to Worry	Essence Qi Combined in Heart Leads to Joy	Essence Qi Combined in Spleen Leads to Fear	Essence Qi Combined in Lung Leads to Sadness	Essence Qi Combined in Kidney Leads to Fear
Five Organs’ Aversion	Liver Dislikes Wind	Heart Dislikes Heat	Spleen Dislikes Humidity	Lung Dislikes Cold	Kidney Dislikes Dryness
Illness Development	Shock	Illness in Five Organs	Illness in Tongue Base	Illness in Back	Illness in Stream
Injury	Anger Injures Liver	Joy Injures Heart	Thought Injures Spleen	Worry Injures Lung	Fear Injures Kidney
Five Diseases’ Development	Yang Disease Develops in Winter	Yang Disease Develops in Blood	Yin Disease Develops in Flesh	Yin Disease Develops in Summer	Yin Disease Develops in Bone
Five Labors’ Injury	Prolonged Walking Injures Tendons	Prolonged Viewing Injures Blood	Prolonged Sitting Injures Flesh	Prolonged Lying Injures Qi	Prolonged Standing Injures Bone
Five Organs’ Pulses	Xian (String)	Gou (Hook)	Dai (Slow)	Mao (Hair)	Ying, Shi (Stone)
Five Evils’ Manifestation (Severe Illness)	Spring Receives Autumn Pulse (Liver Flourishes in Spring, its Pulse Should be String. If String Pulse is Not Seen in Spring, but Hair Pulse is Seen, it Indicates Lung Overcoming Liver)	Summer Receives Winter Pulse (Heart Flourishes in Summer, its Pulse Should be Hook. If Hook Pulse is Not Seen in Summer, but Stone Pulse is Seen, it Indicates Kidney Overcoming Heart)	Long Summer Receives Spring Pulse (Spleen Flourishes in Long Summer, its Pulse Should be Slow. If Slow Pulse is Not Seen in Long Summer, but String Pulse is Seen, it Indicates Liver Overcoming Spleen)	Autumn Receives Summer Pulse (Lung Flourishes in Autumn, its Pulse Should be Hair. If Hair Pulse is Not Seen in Autumn, but Hook Pulse is Seen, it Indicates Heart Overcoming Lung)	Winter Receives Long Summer Pulse (Kidney Flourishes in Winter, its Pulse Should be Stone. If Stone Pulse is Not Seen in Winter, but Slow Pulse is Seen, it Indicates Spleen Overcoming Kidney)
Five Evils’ Disturbance	Evils Enter Yang Leads to Madness, Evils Enter Yin Leads to Stiffness, Striking Yang Leads to Dizziness, Striking Yin Leads to Muteness, Yang Entering Yin Leads to Calmness, Yin Exiting Yang Leads to Anger, This is Called Five Disturbances.

Heavenly Stems	Yang Stems	Jia	Bing	Wu	Geng	Ren
Yin Stems	Yi	Ding	Ji	Xing	Gui
Heavenly Stems Combination	Ding Ren Combines to Create Wood	Wu Gui Combines to Create Fire	Jia Ji Combines to Create Earth	Yi Geng Combines to Create Metal	Bing Xin Combines to Create Water
Earthly Branches	Yang Branches	Yin	Wu	Chen Xu	Shen	Zi
Yin Branches	Yin	Si	Chou Wei	You	Hai
Earthly Branches Three Meetings	Yin, Mao, Chen	Si, Wu, Wei	Shen, You, Xu	Hai, Zi, Chou
Earthly Branches Combination	Hai, Mao, Wei Three Combinations Create Wood	Yin, Wu, Xu Three Combinations Create Fire	Si, You, Chou Three Combinations Create Metal	Shen, Zi, Chen Three Combinations Create Water
Eight Trigrams	Zhen (Thunder)	Li (Fire)	Gen (Mountain)	Kun (Earth)	Qian (Heaven)
Five Forces	Movement	Repulsion	Balance	Stillness	Attraction
Stars	Year Star	Comet Star	Town Star	Venus Star	Planet Star
Numbers	Heaven Three Generates Wood Earth Eight Completes Thus, Its Number is Eight	Earth Two Generates Fire Heaven Seven Completes Thus, Its Number is Seven	Heaven Five Generates Earth Earth Ten Completes Thus, Its Number is Ten	Earth Four Generates Metal Heaven Nine Completes Thus, Its Number is Nine	Heaven One Generates Water Earth Six Completes Thus, Its Number is Six
Qi	Soft End	Breath High	Filling Flat	Forming Clean	Firm Bright
Nature	Warm Following	Heat Fast	Calm and Compliant Orderly	Cool Strong	Severe Downward
Use	Movement Curved and Straight	Restless Burning	Transform High and Low	Firm Scattered	Conceal Fertile
Five Transformations	Flourishing Growth	Abundant Fertile	Full Rich	Gather Firm Gather	Calm Consolidate
Transformation	Announce Peace	Balance	Equal Repair	Announce Clarity	Calm Order
Command	Announce Release Wind	Stagnation Heat	Cloud and Rain Humidity	Fog and Dew Dryness	Cold Cold
Change	Destruction	Flame	Movement Injection	Severe Kill	Consolidate Cold
Disaster	Fall	Burning Fire Full	Flooding Collapse	Falling Leaves	Hail
Chronicle of Balanced Qi	Spread Peace	Rise Bright	Prepare Transformation	Examine Balance	Calm Compliance
Chronicle of Insufficient Qi	Delegate Peace	Hidden Bright	Low Supervision	From Reform	Dry Flow
Chronicle of Excessive Qi	Occurrence	Bright Radiance	Firm Completion	Strong Formation	Flowing Expansion

Five Elements and Five Organs

12 Time Periods for Health You Must Know

The Five Elements theory is the core of traditional Chinese culture. Daoists believe that all things in the universe are composed of the operation (movement) and cyclical generation and overcoming of the five basic elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water, often regarded as the ancient simplistic materialistic philosophy. In terms of the human body, the Five Elements represent the five organs and six bowels, each belonging to a specific element; Jia – Gallbladder, Yi – Liver, Bing – Small Intestine, Ding – Heart, Wu – Stomach, Ji – Spleen, Geng – Large Intestine, Xin – Lung, Ren – Bladder, Gui – Kidney. These ten basics must be very familiar; however, remember that Yin and Yang can be interrelated. For example, if Jia Wood is overcome, it may indicate a problem with the Gallbladder, but it could also manifest in the Liver because Yin and Yang are interrelated. If Jia Wood is injured and weak, Yi Wood will also be very weak, which may manifest in both the Gallbladder and the Liver. The same applies to Bing, which may manifest in the Small Intestine, but if its heart function is not good, Bing Fire will also be weak. This means that if Bing Fire is weak, it indicates that Water is overcoming Fire, and Fire must be weak, which means there is no Wood to generate it. If Bing Fire is weak, Ding Fire will also be weak. These ten Heavenly Stems represent different parts of our body; Ji – Spleen being overcome may not be obvious, but it usually indicates diabetes, often due to abnormal insulin secretion leading to diabetes. Geng – Large Intestine being overcome often leads to hemorrhoids; the trachea belongs to the Lung. This is basic, but human health is not limited to this. In fortune-telling, the principle of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements’ generation and overcoming is used to deduce a person’s fortune and misfortune.

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