KI-19 (Yin Du) Yin Metropolis

What does KI-19 Yin Du do?

KI-19 regulates qi and harmonises the Stomach, and it lowers rebellion and alleviates cough and wheezing. It sits four cun above the navel, level with REN-12 Zhong Wan.

• Regulates qi and harmonises the Stomach — the digestive action of the upper abdomen
• Lowers rebellion and alleviates cough and wheezing — the only respiratory action in the whole abdominal run

The Kidney abdominal run pairs point for point with the Conception Vessel, and our own data holds every pairing. Each point in this run is located by reference to the Ren point at its own level — verified by query:

• KI-16 beside REN-08 Shen Que (the navel) · KI-17 level with REN-10 Xia Wan · KI-18 with REN-11 Jian Li
• KI-19 with REN-12 Zhong Wan (this point) · KI-20 with REN-13 Shang Wan · KI-21 with REN-14 Ju Que

Six consecutive Kidney points beside six consecutive Conception Vessel points, half a cun apart, one to one. It is among the most orderly correspondences in the point system. Note the single break: REN-09 Shui Fen at one cun above the navel has no Kidney partner — the run jumps from the navel straight to two cun, confirmed by query.

Its partner is the most weighted of the six. REN-12 Zhong Wan is the Front-Mu point of the Stomach and the Hui-Meeting point of the fu organs — one of the eight influential points, and the principal point of the upper abdomen. KI-19 sits half a cun from it, which is worth knowing when reading a prescription: the two are easily confused, and they are not equivalent.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, category, action and location records; the whole KI-16 to KI-21 run and its Conception Vessel partners queried and paired, and REN-12's classifications confirmed, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is KI-19 Yin Du used for?

KI-19 is used for abdominal rumbling, abdominal and epigastric pain, constipation and vomiting. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Borborygmus (abdominal rumbling)
• Abdominal pain
• Epigastric pain
• Constipation
• Vomiting

Note the mismatch between the two fields. Our recorded action includes alleviating cough and wheezing — and the indication list contains no respiratory entry at all. This is the fourth such case this library has documented, after BL-11 (bones), BL-51 (breasts) and BL-55 (uterine bleeding). In every one the action field carries a classical attribution the indication field does not support, and both fields are reproduced here so a reader can see the gap rather than inherit whichever a summary happened to use.

An honest note. Epigastric pain that is severe or persistent, or comes with weight loss, vomiting, black stools or difficulty swallowing, requires medical assessment — and pain in this region can originate in the heart, so upper-abdominal or chest pain with breathlessness, sweating, or pain spreading to the arm or jaw is a medical emergency. A lasting change in bowel habit requires assessment. This record documents classical use only.

How it is combined. With REN-12 Zhong Wan at the same level — the Front-Mu point of the Stomach and Hui-Meeting point of the fu organs. With KI-18 below and KI-20 above on the same 0.5-cun line. With ST-25 Tian Shu and ST-36 Zu San Li, and P-06 Nei Guan for the vomiting. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records, compared field against field; the BL-11, BL-51, BL-55, KI-18, KI-20, P-06, REN-12, ST-25 and ST-36 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is KI-19 Yin Du located?

KI-19 is on the upper abdomen, four cun above the navel and half a cun out from the midline — beside REN-12 Zhong Wan.

• 4 cun above the umbilicus, 0.5 cun lateral to the midline
• Level with REN-12 Zhong Wan, which our own record names as the reference
• KI-18 lies one cun below, KI-20 one cun above — both at 0.5 cun

Everything on this line is measured from the navel, which is the best landmark on the body. No counting chain, no proportional guess: the umbilicus is unmistakable, and the run climbs from it a cun at a time. Our KI-16 record sets out the full ladder.

Half a cun is a finger’s breadth, and that is the practical warning. The Kidney abdominal line runs almost against the Conception Vessel — our BL-35 record notes the only comparable 0.5-cun measurement on the back. At this distance KI-19 and REN-12 are separated by less than the width of a fingertip, and REN-12 is one of the eight influential points while KI-19 is not. The measurement has to be made rather than estimated.

On the name. “Yin Du” means Yin Metropolis, sometimes rendered Yin Capital. Du is a capital city or a gathering place, and the reading usually offered has the yin of the body gathering here on the abdomen — the front of the trunk being yin to the back’s yang. Unlike BL-37 Yin Men, whose yin is a different character entirely, this one is the yin of yin–yang.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the BL-35, BL-37, KI-16, KI-18, KI-20 and REN-12 records queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 357): On the upper abdomen, 4 cun above the umbilicus, 0.5 cun lateral to the midline (Zhongwan REN-12).
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 196): 4 cun above the umbilicus, 0.5 cun lateral to Zhongwan (REN-12).

How is KI-19 Yin Du needled?

Our own record states perpendicular insertion of 0.5–1.0 inch, with moxibustion applicable. What follows is a neutral record of what the reference literature documents. It is not instruction, and this page does not teach technique.

• Angle and depth as recorded: perpendicular, 0.5–1.0 inch — the same range our records give at KI-16, KI-17, KI-18 and KI-20, and deeper than the 0.3–0.7 inch recorded at KI-21 two cun higher.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable.
• Regional anatomy: rectus abdominis and its sheath overlie the peritoneal cavity; the stomach lies deep in this region, with the left lobe of the liver above and to the right; there is no bone anywhere beneath the abdominal wall to stop a needle.

Why the depth changes higher up the same line, and this is checkable. Our records give 0.5–1.0 inch at every point of this run except KI-21, which is 0.3–0.7 inch and carries an explicit liver-injury caution. The recorded depth shortens exactly where the liver comes beneath the line. KI-19 carries no organ caution, and this page does not import one — only four points in the library carry one at all: KI-21 (liver), KI-22 (heart), LU-01 and LU-02 (lung), counted by query.

Hazard, stated proportionately. The abdominal wall is thin, there is no bone beneath, and the peritoneal cavity lies directly under it — which is why every abdominal record here carries a bounded depth rather than an open one. Abdominal points also behave differently with a full bladder, in pregnancy, and after abdominal surgery where scarring changes what lies beneath.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at KI-19 could be located, and none is borrowed. Neither measured-depth study this library uses reaches the abdomen. No case report naming KI-19 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged, and the recorded depths across KI-16 to KI-21 compared; every needling record queried and the four organ-injury cautions counted), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on KI-19, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates KI-19. Where the point appears it is one component of a digestive protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

The neighbour with the literature is half a cun away. REN-12 Zhong Wan is the Front-Mu point of the Stomach and one of the eight influential points, and it appears in most upper-abdominal protocols. Evidence about REN-12 is evidence about REN-12 — and at half a cun, this is the shortest distance over which that warning has had to be given anywhere in this library.

What this page can state with confidence. KI-19 sits four cun above the navel at 0.5 cun lateral, level with REN-12. The whole Kidney abdominal run pairs one to one with the Conception Vessel — KI-17/REN-10, KI-18/REN-11, KI-19/REN-12, KI-20/REN-13, KI-21/REN-14, with KI-16 beside REN-08 — verified across our own location records, with the single break at REN-09, which has no Kidney partner. And its action names cough and wheezing while its indication list contains nothing respiratory, the fourth such field mismatch this project has documented.

A note on searching for it. “KI 19”, “KID 19” and “Yindu” searches return protocol trials and a very large volume of unrelated material — “Yindu” is the Chinese name for India, which dominates results completely, and the syllable yin pulls in general yin–yang material besides. This is among the poorest search terms on the channel. Our library codes this channel KI- while some sources use KID-. Any claim attached to this point should be checked against what a study actually used.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (action, indication, location and translation records; the KI-16 to KI-21 run paired against its Conception Vessel partners by query, and the BL-11, BL-51, BL-55 and REN-12 records checked, against our own data).