SJ-02 (Ye Men) Humor Gate

What does SJ-02 Ye Men do?

SJ-02 disperses upper-jiao heat and benefits the ears, calms the spirit, and activates the channel — and it is the Ying-Spring and Water point of the San Jiao channel.

• Disperses upper-jiao heat and benefits the ears — the Ying-Spring heat-clearing action, reaching the ear the channel serves
• Calms the spirit
• Activates the channel and alleviates pain

Its five-shu role: no named role, from the controlling side. The San Jiao is a yang Fire channel and SJ-02 is its Water point — and Water controls Fire (Water quenches Fire), so SJ-02 is a controlling-side element carrying no named role. From our own element data, the named roles sit elsewhere: SJ-03 Zhong Zhu Wood (tonification), SJ-10 Tian Jing Earth (sedation), SJ-06 Zhi Gou Fire (horary). SJ-02 (Water) and SJ-01 Guan Chong (Metal) are the two without a named role.

The Ying-Spring character — and why heat. The Ying-Spring points, second from the tip, are the classical points for heat in their channel (“the Ying-Spring treats heat”), and SJ-02 being also the Water point doubles that cooling sense — Water clearing Fire on a Fire channel. It is a natural companion to the Jing-Well SJ-01 just distal for San Jiao heat.

On the name. “Ye Men” means Humor Gate or Fluid Gate — ye the thicker body fluids of TCM physiology, men a gate. The fluid name suits the Water point, and the reading is usually tied to the point’s role at the gate where the channel’s fluids gather.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (channel, element, action and translation records; the San Jiao five-shu series queried and SJ-02 confirmed the Water point with no named role, against our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

What is SJ-02 Ye Men used for?

SJ-02 is used for headache, red eyes, sudden deafness, sore throat, malaria, and pain in the arm. Our own indication record is reproduced here in full.

• Headache
• Redness of the eyes
• Sudden deafness
• Sore throat
• Malaria
• Pain in the arm

Head-and-ear heat, a febrile entry, and the local arm. The headache, red eyes, deafness and sore throat are upper-jiao heat reaching the head and ear; malaria is the alternating fever-and-chills the shao yang channels (San Jiao and Gall Bladder) are classically associated with; the arm pain is local.

An honest note. Sudden hearing loss is a medical emergency — sudden sensorineural deafness needs same-week specialist care, when treatment is most effective. A red, painful eye requires assessment, as does sore throat with difficulty swallowing or breathing. “Malaria” here is the classical fever pattern; genuine malaria is a life-threatening infection requiring urgent medical treatment, and any traveller’s fever must be assessed for it. This record documents classical use only.

How it is combined. With SJ-01 Guan Chong and SJ-03 Zhong Zhu on the hand for San Jiao heat and the ears; with SJ-17 Yi Feng and GB-02 Ting Hui for the ear; with SJ-06 Zhi Gou for the shao yang febrile pattern. All held here.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (indication and action records; the GB-02, SJ-01, SJ-03, SJ-06 and SJ-17 records queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources.

Where is SJ-02 Ye Men located?

SJ-02 is on the back of the hand, in the web between the ring and little fingers, just behind the margin of the web.

• Between the ring (fourth) and little (fifth) fingers, in the depression just proximal to the web margin
• At the junction of the red and white skin — where the darker back-of-hand skin meets the paler palm-side skin
• Best found with the fist loosely clenched, which opens the web and deepens the hollow

The red-white junction is a real, usable landmark. The skin of the back of the hand is thicker and darker than the palm-side skin, and the line where they meet runs along the sides of the fingers and the web margins. SJ-02 sits on that junction in the ring-little web — a border you can see, not just measure. It is the San Jiao equivalent of the Ying-Spring web points on the other hand channels.

On the name. “Ye Men” — Humor Gate, the fluid gate suiting the Water point, as noted above.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (location and translation records, retained unchanged; the SJ-03 record queried from our own data).

• A Manual of Acupuncture (p. 392): Between the ring and little fingers, 0.5 cun proximal to the margin of the web.
• Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (p. 202): When the fist is clenched, the point is located in the depression proximal to the margin of the web between the ring and small fingers, at the junction of the red and white skin.

How is SJ-02 Ye Men needled?

Our own record states oblique insertion of 0.3–0.5 inch toward the space between the metacarpal bones, 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: oblique, 0.3–0.5 inch, angled toward the interspace of the metacarpals — the direction is part of the record, aiming the needle up into the web rather than straight down onto bone.
• Moxibustion: recorded as applicable.
• Regional anatomy: the point lies in the web between the fourth and fifth metacarpals; the dorsal digital nerves and the dorsal digital vessels run in the web; the metacarpal bones form the walls.

Hazard, stated proportionately. This is a low-hazard point: no body cavity, no major vessel, no organ. The oblique angle up the metacarpal interspace both reaches the point’s tissue and keeps the needle off the bone. Our record carries no arterial caution at SJ-02, and it is not among the nine points that do.

What is not claimed. No study measuring a safe depth at SJ-02 could be located, and none is borrowed. No case report naming SJ-02 was located.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (needling record, retained unchanged including the oblique direction; the nine arterial cautions queried from our own data), cross-referenced against multiple online sources; regional anatomy from standard anatomical description.

Is there research on SJ-02, and what should a reader know?

No trial isolates SJ-02. Where the point appears it is one component of a protocol, and a study that includes a point in a protocol is not evidence about that point.

What this page can state with confidence. SJ-02 Ye Men is the Ying-Spring and Water point of the San Jiao channel, and because the San Jiao is a yang Fire channel and Water controls Fire, it carries no named five-shu role — those are SJ-03 (tonification), SJ-10 (sedation) and SJ-06 (horary), checkable against our own element records. Its Ying-Spring-and-Water character makes it a natural point for San Jiao heat in the head and ear. It sits at the red-white junction in the ring-little web.

A note on searching for it. “SJ 2”, “TE 2”, “TW 2” and “Yemen” searches return protocol trials and a large volume of unrelated material — “Yemen” is, of course, the name of a country, which floods any plain search. Any claim attached to this point should be checked against what a study actually used.

Source: Sacred Lotus sources & references (element, action and indication records; the San Jiao five-shu series and the nine arterial cautions queried, against our own data).