Classica Sinica Medica

畜門 简体 畜门

xiù mén

The gate of xu · xu men

Also rendered: Gate of xu (keeps the transliteration, which is honest) · Storing gate (literal, and it says what 畜 does) · Nasal gate (clear, and it decides a disputed location)

Physiology

Reviewed · 2026-10-25

At a glance

Pinyin
xiù mén
Simplified
畜门
Literal
畜 xiù — to store, to gather in; 門 mén — gate, opening. The reading follows the sense of storing, not the reading of livestock. The gate is where the qi of the channel gathers at the back of the nose.
Shuowen
《說文》：畜，田畜也。段注謂畜與蓄通。「畜門」本篇1見，在營氣上行至肺、循喉嚨之後，為其支別之極處。

In brief

The deepest point the camp qi reaches on its upward course. The qi ascends from the liver to the lung, follows the throat, enters the orifice of the hang sang, and comes to its end at the gate of xu. The commentators place it at the back of the nasal cavity, above the soft palate — the place where breath and the channel’s qi meet, and past which the chapter says the qi does not go. It is named once in the book and never described, which is why every gloss of it is an inference from the route that leads there.

Senses in the classical corpus

1
The end of the ascent 究于畜門
深入到畜门
It comes to its end at the gate of xu.
究于畜門 — 靈樞·營氣
2
Where it lies 入頏顙之竅
进入颃颡的孔窍
It enters the orifice of the hang sang.
入頏顙之竅 — 靈樞·營氣

Occurrences in the classics

Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.

Display
1 passages
靈樞·營氣 Read in context →
上行注膻中，散于三焦，從三焦注膽，出脅，注足少陽；下行至跗上，復從跗注大指間，合足厥陰。上行至肝，從肝上注肺，上循喉嚨，入頏顙之竅，究于畜門。 上行注膻中，散于三焦，从三焦注胆，出胁，注足少阳；下行至跗上，复从跗注大指间，合足厥阴。上行至肝，从肝上注肺，上循喉咙，入颃颡之窍，究于畜门。
shàng xíng zhù dàn zhōng, sàn yú sān jiāo, cóng sān jiāo zhù dǎn, chū xié, zhù zú shào yáng; xià xíng zhì fū shàng, fù cóng fū zhù dà zhǐ jiān, hé zú jué yīn. shàng xíng zhì gān, cóng gān shàng zhù fèi, shàng xún hóu lóng, rù háng sǎng zhī qiào, jiū yú xiù mén.
Ascending, it pours into the dan zhong, scatters into the triple burner, and from the triple burner pours into the gallbladder, emerges at the ribs and pours into the foot shao yang. Descending to the instep, it pours again from the instep into the space between the great toes and joins the foot jue yin. Ascending to the liver, it pours from the liver up into the lungs, ascends along the throat, enters the orifice of the hang sang and reaches the gate of xu.
「畜門」本篇1見。營氣自肝注肺、上循喉嚨，入頏顙之竅而究于此，為上行之極。

Compounds built on this term

畜門
xiù mén
the gate of xu
鼻後孔深處
頏顙
háng sǎng
the hang sang
咽上上齶

How it has been translated

Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.

This sitethe gate of xuthe text's own name
Literalthe storing gateexact, and it sounds anatomical when it is not
Clinicalthe nasopharynxclear, and it is a modern identification

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-25

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Reading path

Guided routes through the corpus, each built on a handful of chapters and their key terms.

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