KI-09 (Zhu Bin) Guest House

What does KI-09 Zhu Bin do?

KI-09 is the Xi-Cleft point of the Yin Wei Mai (Yin Linking Vessel) — not of the Kidney channel itself — and that single classification explains almost everything the point is used for. Xi-Cleft points are where the qi of a channel or vessel gathers deeply, and they are the classical choice for acute and severe conditions. Because the vessel it serves is the Yin Wei, KI-09 reaches the interior and the spirit rather than the Kidney channel’s local territory.

• Clears the Heart and transforms phlegm — the action our own record leads with, and the reason KI-09 appears in classical treatments for mental-emotional disturbance and phlegm clouding the spirit.
• Regulates qi and alleviates pain — the Xi-Cleft function proper, applied to acute pain along the vessel’s course.
• Serves the Yin Linking Vessel — the vessel that links the yin channels and, in classical theory, governs the interior.

An important distinction: the Kidney channel’s own Xi-Cleft point is KI-05 Shui Quan, which we hold separately. KI-09 and KI-05 are both Xi-Cleft points on the same channel because they serve different things — one an extraordinary vessel, one the channel. The same pattern appears elsewhere in this library: BL-59 Fu Yang is the Xi-Cleft of the Yang Qiao while BL-63 Jin Men is the Bladder channel’s own, and GB-35 Yang Jiao is the Xi-Cleft of the Yang Wei while GB-36 Wai Qiu is the Gall Bladder channel’s.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, category and action record), cross-referenced against multiple online sources and Deadman & Al-Khafaji, A Manual of Acupuncture.

What is KI-09 Zhu Bin used for?

Classically, KI-09 is used for mental-emotional disturbance, for pain in the lower leg and foot along the channel’s course, and for hernia disorders. Our own indication record is short and specific, and it is reproduced here in full rather than padded out with the general indications of the Kidney channel.

• Mental and emotional disturbance — the classical “clears the Heart, transforms phlegm” group
• Pain in the foot and lower leg
• Hernia disorders (shan qi)
• Acute conditions along the Yin Linking Vessel, by virtue of its Xi-Cleft status

How it is combined. The Yin Wei Mai is opened by its Confluent point P-06 Nei Guan, which we hold and which is paired in the classical eight-confluent system with SP-04 Gong Sun. Where P-06 opens the vessel, KI-09 is the point where its qi gathers — so the two are used together when the vessel is treated for acute or interior patterns.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication record and the P-06 confluent-point classification), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is KI-09 Zhu Bin located, and how is it found?

KI-09 sits on the inner lower leg, five cun above KI-03 Tai Xi, on the line running from KI-03 up to KI-10 Yin Gu, roughly one cun behind the inner edge of the shin bone. It is located by measurement from two points we also hold rather than by a palpable landmark of its own, which is why the Kidney channel’s lower-leg points are counted rather than felt for.

• KI-03 Tai Xi — the Yuan-Source and Shu-Stream point, at the ankle, the lower reference
• KI-10 Yin Gu — the He-Sea and Water point at the medial knee, the upper reference
• KI-08 Jiao Xin — also a Xi-Cleft point (of the Yin Qiao Mai), on the same stretch of channel; the two are easily confused when counting

In practice KI-09 is chosen for its vessel rather than for its location. A point used for the spirit that sits low on the leg is unusual, and the classical explanation is the Yin Wei Mai’s reach into the interior. Moxibustion is recorded as applicable in our own needling record.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location record, retained unchanged; sibling-point classifications queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 349): On the medial aspect of the lower leg, 5 cun superior to Taixi KID-3, on the line drawn between Taixi KID-3 and Yingu KID-10, about 1 cun posterior to the medial border of the tibia.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 193): 5 cun directly above Taixi (KI-3) at the lower end of the belly of m. gastrocnemius, on the line drawn from Taixi (KI-3) to Yingu (KI l0).

How is KI-09 Zhu Bin needled?

The standard texts record perpendicular insertion to roughly 0.5–0.7 inch, with moxibustion applicable. What follows is a neutral record of what the reference literature documents, not instruction for a reader.

• Angle and depth as recorded: perpendicular, 0.5–0.7 inch.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable at this point.
• Regional anatomy: the point lies between the soleus and the deep flexor compartment of the calf. The posterior tibial artery, vein and tibial nerve run in that compartment, deeper and slightly posterior to the point’s recorded position — the same neurovascular bundle documented at KI-03 lower down the channel.

Hazard, stated proportionately. This is a comparatively low-hazard point: there is no body cavity beneath it, and the recorded depth is shallow. No case report naming KI-09 as the site of an injury was located, and none is asserted here. No study measuring a safe depth at KI-09 could be located — the imaging and cadaveric safe-depth work in this library measures thoracic, lumbar, gluteal and neck points, none of which describe this one.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

What does the name Zhu Bin mean, and is there research on KI-09?

“Zhu Bin” is usually rendered Guest House or Building the Guest. The reading that fits the point’s use is that the Yin Wei Mai is a “guest” on the Kidney channel — it passes through and gathers here without the point belonging to the vessel’s own course, much as a guest lodges in a house that is not theirs.

Research: there is essentially none specific to this point, and that is worth stating plainly. A PubMed search returns only nine records for the point’s name and code combined, and reading them rather than counting them:

• A comparative anatomy and location study of the Kidney channel’s lower-leg points (PMID 33269839) includes Zhubin among the points it examines — it is anatomical and animal work, not clinical.
• A pain-threshold comparison of leg acupoints in healthy volunteers (PMID 23650804) includes KI-09 among several points; it measures sensitivity, not treatment effect.
• Two older electroacupuncture studies of kanamycin-induced hearing damage (PMID 10453587, PMID 8758832) use multi-point protocols.

No trial isolates KI-09, and no study reports an effect attributable to this point alone. Its standing rests on the classical record and on its position in the Xi-Cleft and extraordinary-vessel systems, not on modern evidence.

A note on searching for it: point-code searches for “KI 9” return studies that merely include the point in a protocol, and several that do not concern it at all. Any claim about this point should be checked against what a study actually measured.

Source: PubMed (PMID 33269839, 23650804, 10453587, 8758832 — each retrieved and read; none retracted), and Sacred Lotus sources & references for the classification and name record.