KI-21 (You Men) Dark Gate

What does KI-21 You Men do?

KI-21 fortifies the Spleen, harmonises the Stomach and lowers rebellion; and it spreads Liver qi, benefits the chest and breasts, and alleviates pain. It is the highest point of the Kidney channel’s abdominal run.

• Fortifies the Spleen, harmonises the Stomach, and lowers rebellion — the digestive action
• Spreads Liver qi, benefits the chest and breasts and alleviates pain

It is also a Meeting Point of the Kidney channel with the Penetrating Vessel (Chong Mai), a designation it shares with the whole abdominal run below it, including KI-16 Huang Shu at the navel.

Where the channel changes line, and this is the point it happens at. Verified across our own location records: KI-16 to KI-21 all sit 0.5 cun from the midline on the abdomen — KI-16 beside the navel, then KI-17, KI-18, KI-19, KI-20 and KI-21 at two, three, four, five and six cun above it — note the jump from the navel straight to two cun, with no Kidney point at one cun above, confirmed by query. Then at KI-22 the channel steps out to 2 cun and climbs the chest one intercostal space at a time. KI-21 is the last point on the narrow line, and a reader carrying the 0.5-cun measure up onto the chest — or the 2-cun measure down onto the abdomen — will be wrong by a factor of four.

On the name. “You Men” means Dark Gate, sometimes rendered Hidden Gate. You carries the sense of dark, deep or secluded, and men is a gate — the same character as in KI-22’s neighbours BL-47 Hun Men, DU-04 Ming Men and BL-51 Huang Men. Note that you men is also the anatomical term for the pylorus, the outlet of the stomach — and this point sits high on the upper abdomen in that region, which is very likely the sense intended.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, category, action, location and translation records; KI-16 to KI-22 queried and their lateral distances compared, and the BL-47, BL-51 and DU-04 records checked, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is KI-21 You Men used for?

KI-21 is used for abdominal pain and distension, indigestion, nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, and morning sickness. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Abdominal pain and distension
• Indigestion
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhoea
• Morning sickness

The whole list is digestive, and one entry names pregnancy. Morning sickness is recorded at few points in this library, and where our data holds a pregnancy-related indication it is reported — together with the caution that belongs with it.

An honest note, and the pregnancy entry needs the most care. Persistent vomiting in pregnancy is not simply “morning sickness”. Severe or unremitting vomiting (hyperemesis) causes dehydration and requires medical assessment and often hospital treatment; vomiting that prevents keeping fluids down, or comes with weight loss, needs care promptly. Acupuncture during pregnancy is a matter for a qualified practitioner who knows the pregnancy, and this record is a reference entry, not a recommendation. Abdominal pain that is severe, sudden or persistent requires assessment; its causes include surgical emergencies. Persistent vomiting or diarrhoea in anyone causes dehydration and warrants assessment. This record documents classical use only.

How it is combined. With KI-20 and the rest of the 0.5-cun abdominal line below. With REN-14 Ju Que on the midline at the same level — our own record locates KI-21 by reference to it — and REN-12 Zhong Wan, the Front-Mu point of the Stomach and Hui-Meeting point of the fu organs. With P-06 Nei Guan distally, the point with by far the strongest evidence base for nausea and vomiting. With ST-36 Zu San Li. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication record; the KI-20, P-06, REN-12, REN-14 and ST-36 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is KI-21 You Men located?

KI-21 is on the upper abdomen, six cun above the navel and only half a cun out from the midline — beside REN-14 Ju Que.

• 6 cun above the umbilicus, 0.5 cun lateral to the midline
• Level with REN-14 Ju Que on the midline, which our own record names as the reference
• KI-20 lies one cun below, at 5 cun above the navel; KI-22 above on the chest — but at 2 cun, not 0.5

Half a cun is very close to the midline, and the whole abdominal run is like this. Checked across our records, KI-16 through KI-21 all sit at 0.5 cun: KI-16 beside the navel, then KI-17 at two cun above it, KI-18 at three, KI-19 at four, KI-20 at five and KI-21 at six — evenly spaced a cun apart, after a two-cun jump from the navel. The Kidney line on the abdomen runs almost against the Conception Vessel — and our BL-35 record notes the only comparable 0.5-cun measurement on the back. At this distance the two channels are within a finger’s breadth of each other, so the measurement has to be made rather than estimated.

Then the channel steps out fourfold. At KI-22, the next point up, the line moves to 2 cun and stays there for the whole chest. That is the largest single jump in lateral distance anywhere on this channel, and it happens between two consecutive points. Verified against our own location records.

On the name. “You Men” — Dark Gate. As noted above, the term also names the pylorus, the stomach’s outlet, which lies in this region — a rare case of a point name that is also a piece of anatomical vocabulary.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; KI-16 to KI-22 queried and their lateral distances compared, and the BL-35 and REN-14 records checked, against our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 358): On the upper abdomen, 6 cun above the umbilicus, 0.5 cun lateral to the midline (Juque REN-14).
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 196): 6 cun above the umbilicus, 0.5 cun lateral to Juque (REN-14).

How is KI-21 You Men needled, and what does our record warn about?

Our own record states perpendicular insertion of 0.3–0.7 inch with moxibustion applicable — and then adds, in its own words, “TO AVOID INJURING THE LIVER, DEEP INSERTION IS NOT ADVISABLE”. It is the only point in this library whose record names the liver that way. What follows is a neutral record of what the reference literature documents. It is not instruction, and this page does not teach technique.

• Our record’s caution, retained verbatim: to avoid injuring the liver, deep insertion is not advisable.
• Angle and depth as recorded: perpendicular, 0.3–0.7 inch.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable. It carries none of these hazards.
• Regional anatomy: rectus abdominis and its sheath overlie the peritoneal cavity; the liver occupies the upper abdomen beneath the diaphragm, extending across the midline to the left, and its lower edge reaches toward the costal margin — so a point six cun above the navel sits over it. The stomach and the left lobe of the liver both lie in this region.

Only four points in this library carry an organ-injury caution, and two of them are consecutive points on this channel. Counted by querying every needling record we hold:

• KI-21 You Men — the liver (this point)
• KI-22 Bu Lang — the heart, in the fifth intercostal space immediately above
• LU-01 Zhong Fu and LU-02 Yun Men — the lung

Three of the four are on the front of the trunk, and KI-21 and KI-22 are neighbours — one naming the liver, the next the heart, as the channel crosses from the abdomen onto the chest. Where our source material singles a point out this way, this library keeps the wording exactly and does not extend it to points whose records do not carry it.

Hazard, stated proportionately. The abdominal wall is thin compared with the back, there is no bone beneath, and the peritoneal cavity and its organs lie directly under it. The recorded depth of three to seven tenths of an inch is what keeps a needle in the abdominal wall, and the caution explains why that bound has a stated top.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at KI-21 could be located, and none is borrowed. The two measured-depth studies this library uses cover points on the back and shoulder and on the lower back — neither reaches the abdomen. No case report naming KI-21 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record including the liver caution, retained verbatim; every needling record in the library queried and the four organ-injury cautions counted; the point lists of PMID 26922245 and PMID 36075596 confirmed not to include KI-21), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on KI-21, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates KI-21. 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.

Nausea and vomiting is the one area where a reader will meet strong evidence near this point — and it belongs to a different point entirely. P-06 Nei Guan on the forearm has the strongest Western evidence base of any acupuncture point, and our P-06 record sets out both that evidence and the fact that a separate review on chemotherapy-induced nausea was formally withdrawn. None of that is evidence about KI-21, and this page borrows none of it.

What this page can state with confidence. KI-21 carries an explicit liver-injury caution in its own record — the only point in the library that names the liver, and one of only four carrying an organ-injury caution of any kind, alongside KI-22 (heart) and LU-01 and LU-02 (lung). It is the last point of the 0.5-cun abdominal line before the channel steps out fourfold to 2 cun at KI-22, verified across KI-16 to KI-22. Its whole indication list is digestive. And its name doubles as the anatomical term for the pylorus, which sits in this region.

A note on searching for it. “KI 21”, “KID 21” and “Youmen” searches return protocol trials and a very large volume of unrelated material — “youmen” is the standard anatomical term for the pylorus, so medical searches on the name return gastroenterology rather than acupuncture, and it also matches place names. This is one of 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 (needling, action, indication, location and translation records; every needling record queried and the four organ-injury cautions counted, KI-16 to KI-22 lateral distances compared, and the P-06 record checked, against our own data).