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Alternate names: 上门 shàng mén, Upper Gate; 通谷 tōng gǔ, Freeing the Grain

Channel: KI, foot lesser yīn (shào yīn) kidney channel

Modern location: An acupoint located on the upper abdomen, 5 cùn superior to the umbilicus and 0.5 cùn lateral to the midline.

Classical location: One cùn below Dark Gate (KI-21), one and a half cùn from the midline. From The Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (针灸大成 zhēn jiǔ dà chéng)

Local anatomy: See KI-18.

Action: Fortifies the spleen and harmonizes the stomach; loosens the chest and rectifies qì.

Modern indications: Abdominal pain; abdominal distension; retching and vomiting.

Classical indications: Accumulations and gatherings; strings and aggregations; lodged rheum; pain in the chest and rib-side; retching; cough and counterflow and panting; epilepsy; fulminant loss of voice; heart palpitation; abstraction.

Needle stimulus: Needling: 0.5‒1.0 cùn perpendicular insertion. Moxa: 5 cones; pole 20‒30 min.

Point groups: Intersection point (jiāo huì xué) of the kidney channel and thoroughfare vessel.

Point name meaning:

• 通 tōng: to free, unblock; to pass through
• 谷 gǔ: valley; grain

This point name refers to location, as is often the case. Sù Wèn mentions that large areas of flesh are called valleys. This is why such points as LI-4 and KI-20, which are in fleshy areas, are called valleys (especially in contrast to ravines, such as KI-3 and SI-3, which are located where the flesh is much less abundant). KI-20 is in the valley formed by the muscles of the central abdomen. The qì of the kidney channel passes through this region as if it were traversing a mountain valley. Open Valley is a translation that highlights this interpretation of the point name.

The ideogram 谷 (gǔ), in addition to its meaning of valley, is used in the modern simplified script as a substitute for the homophone 穀, meaning grain (which, perhaps coincidentally, is often grown in a valley). If taken in this way, the point name can arguably refer to the use of this point in aiding digestion, or to the fact that food in the digestive tract passes through this area. In this case the alternate translation of Freeing the Grain might serve well. See acupoint names: origins, meanings, and translations.

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