Large Intestine Channel
Second Space
二间Èr JiānAnatomical location
On the radial border of the index finger, distal to the metacarpophalangeal joint.
Main function
Clears Heat, benefits the throat, relieves pain.
- Ying-Spring Point (Water)
- Sedation Point
Therapeutic indications
- Sore throat
- toothache
- epistaxis
- fever
- Facial paralysis
- Blurred vision
- Shoulder and back pain
- Dry mouth
- Yellowish eyes
- Stiffness of the index finger
Ryodoraku
- Sedation of Large Intestine
Name and classical tradition
Erjian, 二間, is the “second interval”: 二, two, and 間, space, gap. The least speculative reading is the simplest one. Counting from the tip of the index finger, it is the second point of the channel, and it lies in the hollow in front of the joint at the base of the finger. The name forms a series with the next one, LI3, the “third interval,” on the other side of the same joint. There is a modern gloss that speaks of Qi coming from Shangyang and settling at a not very high level of the body's space, but it has no classical support.
In the Ben Shu chapter (本輸), the Lingshu (Spiritual Pivot) presents it in the sequence of the five transport points: «溜於本節之前二間，為滎», Qi glides to Erjian, in front of the joint; it is the Ying-Spring point (滎穴). In the Yang channels, the Ying-Spring point corresponds to Water. The Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing (Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion) gives it the alternative name 間谷, “valley of the interval.”
Other names
- 間谷Jiayi Jing
