Twelve Terrestrial Branches
Shi-Go (Midnight-Noon) Treatment
Shi-Go: Twelve Branches in Japanese Meridian Therapy
In an earlier post, we outlined the theory of the Ten Celestial Stems as it appeared in the Nan Jing (Classic of Difficulties) and discussed its application in Japanese Meridian Therapy (JMT). To follow up on that post, we’re going to touch on the counterpart to the Ten Stems, what’s known as the Twelve Terrestrial Branches. The Ten Stems are related to the Yin and Yang aspects of the Five Phases, as we’ve seen earlier, and the Twelve Branches are related to both the hours of the day, and the twelve main meridians.
You likely learned the Twelve Branches as the so-called “Chinese clock”, i.e. the correlation between the 12 bihourly units of the 24-hour day cycle with the meridians, but let’s recap with the names of the Terrestrial Branches included:
This is sometimes referred to as the Zi-Wu cycle, for the names of branch 1 (Zi) and 7 (Wu). The Japanese rendering of Zi-Wu is Shi-Go, which is the name for which I learned this method. Shi and Go correspond to the hours around Midnight and Noon, and in Fukushima Kodo’s book Meridian Therapy the name is translated as Midnight-Noon Needling. I learned this system with Fukushima’s students, though it is fairly widespread among acupuncturists (it is one of Richard Tan’s 5 systems, for example).
If you split the table in half, you will see complementary bihourly units, for example Shi is 11PM-1AM and Go is 11AM-1PM. The meridians associated with those units have a complementary relationship as well, they are “opposites on the Chinese clock”. The table looks like this:
You can see a couple of interesting things when you look at this table. First, as in the Ten Stems, in every case a Yang meridian is paired with a Yin meridian. Also, each pair has a meridian on the hand and one on the foot:
So what does this relationship mean? Well, clinically, it means that you can treat one of the meridians in a pair and it will have an effect on the other paired meridian. This explains some actions of certain points which may be difficult to explain otherwise; for example PC6 is well known for treating nausea which is associated with the Stomach. LU7 treats the nape of the neck and back of the head, neither of which is traversed by any of the branches of the Lung meridian; it is the area through which the Bladder meridian runs, and the Bladder is opposite the Lung on the Midnight-Noon cycle.
Clinical Applications
I was taught in JMT that if there is an Excess symptom on one meridian (usually pain), then one can treat it by choosing a point on its paired meridian in the Midnight-Noon cycle and applying tonification to that point. Direct moxa (15-30 times) or gold pressballs (a.k.a. magrain pellets) may also be used.
The point selection can vary; often the Xi-Cleft point is chosen, which when tonified can drain the excess on the paired Midnight-Noon channel. One could use the Luo-Connecting point as well; the two examples of PC6 and LU7 above are both Luo points.
Integrating Root, Stems and Branches: Back Pain Treatment
One example of how I integrate this into treatments is the back pain protocol I often use, either in community settings or as the front half of a two-sided treatment. Low back pain in TCM acupuncture usually involves the Kidney but I usually take the approach that the primary problem in much presenting back pain is sinew damage. This points to the Liver as well as the Kidney, since the two are treated together in a Five-Phase Liver pattern. The key point for the pattern is LR4, the jing-river point, indicated (according to Ling Shu 6) for sinew and bone problems.
Most commonly the presentation involves pain along the UB meridian. The pattern is needled on the healthy (or less painful) side, and the Shi-Go point(s) on the painful side.
Yin meridians
Healthy side: LR4, KD7
Painful side: LU6
Yang meridians
Healthy side: LI4
Painful side: UB63
Point analysis
LR4, KD7 are the root treatment points, especially indicated in Ling Shu 6 for sinew and bone problems (disease is at the Yin within Yang)
LU6 is the Xi-cleft point on the Lung meridian, Shi-Go pair to the UB meridian.
LI4 is the Yuan-source point for the Ten-stem Yang meridian overcontrolling the Liver
UB63 is the Xi-cleft point on the symptomatic meridian
This is a real bare-bones version; I often add points like GB41 (Dai Mai point), UB62 (Yangqiao Mai point), and GB34 (jiaohui point for sinews) on the painful side, and add the coupled points on the healthy side to enhance the effects of the treatment. But this example can give an idea about the how Ten Stems and Twelve Branches show up in JMT, at least as I learned it. There are other Stem-Branch methods, for example biorhythmic or astrological applications, that can be found in other sources. For a more complete overview, I highly recommend Roisin Golding’s The Complete Stems and Branches: Time and Space in Classical Acupuncture.
Note: this newsletter is for information purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please seek the opinion of a health care professional for any specific medical issues you may have.
References
Fukushima, K. (1991). Meridian therapy: A hands-on text on traditional Japanese hari based on pulse diagnosis (D. Klapper, Trans.). Toyo Hari Medical Association.