4 Dragons, 4 Oceans, 1 Point: How One Acu-point Rules Them All
San Jiao Nine (SJ9), or Sì Dú (Four Rivers), can be brushed off as a useless point by some practitioners in Chinese Medicine school. The authors of our main acupuncture points textbook “A Manual of Acupuncture”, reluctantly admit Sì Dú has one action: “Benefits the throat and ears.” Though in the grand scheme of acupuncture points that benefit the throat and ears, SJ9 is firmly in last place.
If this point is so insignificant though, why is it named something as powerful as “Four Rivers”?
In China, the four rivers have been revered for centuries for their importance in agriculture and trade throughout China.
“With over 400,000,000 people who depend on the Yangtze River (one of the four rivers of China) as a freshwater source, it is easily one of the most essential rivers in the world and the one with the most people who depend on it. – Rivers are Life Organization
These rivers even have their own origin story, The Story of the Four Dragons. This tale states that four ancient dragons noticed the people of China were suffering from drought, so they begged the Jade Emperor to send rain. When the Emperor did nothing, the dragons drank from the ocean and spread the water across China, bringing the land back to life. When the Emperor found out, he had the dragons imprisoned beneath separate mountains. The dragons still wanted to help the people of China, so they turned themselves into the four mighty rivers:
- The Heilongjiang (Black Dragon) in the far north
- The Huanghe (Yellow River) in central China
- The Changjiang (Yangtze, or Long River) farther south
- The Zhujiang (Pearl) in the very far south
As the four rivers are key to Chinese civilization, there must be something more to this point!
According to the acupuncture master Kiiko Matsumoto in her book “Clinical Strategies, Volume 1” (pg 335), SJ9 is the only point that taps into the the Four Oceans:
“SJ9 is the only point connected to the Four Oceans. These are the Ocean of Marrow in the head (brain), Ocean of Qi in the chest (lungs), Ocean of Grain in the epigastrium (stomach), and the Ocean of Blood in the Tan-Tien (source of longevity).”
With any other point, you would be lucky to tap into one of the Four Oceans, but with this one point, you can connect with all Four! This means that San Jiao 9 taps into an intense and broad action that affects the whole body!
Kiiko lists its actions as:
- Balancing the autonomic nervous system (this controls all our unconscious functions, like our heart rate and breathing)
- Opening the blood vessels in the neck (great for headaches and neck pain)
- Releasing tension at the ASIS (the big bony part of our hips on the front of the body) and the inguinal ligament
- Treats – Jaw pain, TMJ, Insomnia, Ear infections, and Hyperthyroid to name a few
Though some practitioners are not aware of Sì Dú’s benefits past its local actions, it is one of my favorite and most used points as it can amplify any treatment you throw it into.