Chinese/Japanese Pulse Image chart: Hollow Pulse (koumai)

Illustration of Hollow Pulse (koumai) from Renyuan maiying guizhi tushuo (Pictorial Handbook of Pulse Images Based on the Person). This is a specialist text on pulse diagnosis attributed to the third-century master Shuhe, edited and revised by Shen Jifen in the Ming period (1368-1644). It discusses various pulse images and the medical conditions to which they relate, and contains 48 pulse image diagrams. This undated edition was engraved and published in Japan.

The text states: Hollow Pulse is wiry (xian) and very soft, like a feather. When pressed it does not feel solid; the two extremities feel vigorous, but there is nothing in between. Hollow Pulse relates to loss of blood. If it is present at the cun (Inch) pulse sector of the wrist, it relates to bringing up blood (tu xue); at the guan (Pass) sector, to accumulation and stagnation in the abdomen; at the chi (Foot) sector, to blood desertion (tuoxue).