Stomach Channel
Roof Vestibule
屋翳Wū YìAnatomical location
In the second intercostal space, 4 cun lateral to the anterior midline, on the mammillary line.
Main function
Regulates Qi, descends rebellious Qi, benefits the chest, relieves cough and asthma.
Therapeutic indications
- Cough
- asthma
- chest pain
- mastitis
- breast pain
- dyspnea
Name and classical tradition
Wuyi (屋翳) is the “hidden room.” 屋 is the house, the inner room; 翳 means to cover or conceal, what remains in shadow. It is the third name in the chest's architectural series, after the gate of ST13 and the storehouse of ST14: here Qi reaches a secluded chamber. The reading is plausible, although no ancient commentator states it.
The Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing (Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion) gives it a precise entry: “屋翳，在庫房下一寸六分”, Wuyi lies one cun and six fen below Kufang. It also assigns the point a curious indication: “身腫，皮膚不可近衣，淫濼苛獲，久則不仁”. That is swelling of the body, skin so sensitive it cannot bear clothing, and itching and tingling that in time end in numbness. It is a skin symptom hard to connect at first sight with a point on the chest, and that is precisely why the quotation is valuable.
