In face reading the nose is a peak standing tall at the very center of the face — one of the most important parts, corresponding to the Central Peak (中嶽) among the Five Peaks. Seeing the face as one range of mountains, the nose is the great mountain rising at its center, and because it governs wealth in particular, the old ones called this place the “Palace of Wealth” (jaebaek-gung). So in reading the nose, one commonly reads together a person’s wealth fortune, the flow of midlife, and the grain of the self-worth and will that guard oneself.
First, the bridge signifies self-esteem, will, and drive. A bridge straight and upright is seen as one firm of resolve with a solid center, holding a steadiness not easily swayed before hardship. Conversely a bridge too thin or much bent may suggest a heart that wavers often or a weak self-assurance — yet this also reads as soft flexibility or keen sensitivity, so it is no matter to divide hastily into good and bad.
The lower nose — the tip and the wings — is likened to the storehouse of wealth. A tip (jundu) round, plump, and well-fleshed is seen to hold both a fortune of wealth and human warmth; wings set thick are held to have the power to keep gathered wealth well. When the nostrils are not overly exposed but fittingly enfolded, it is read that the fortune that comes in does not easily leak away. Thus each part of the nose mirrors, divided, the many grains of wealth — earning, keeping, and sharing.
Yet the most important principle in face reading is that the nose is never taken alone. However fine the nose, if the cheekbones on either side (the Eastern and Western Peaks) that support it are meager, it is seen as a peak that stands alone with little strength; forehead and chin must balance above and below for the nose’s energy to truly flow. That is, the nose comes into its full meaning only when it blends with the other parts within the single landscape of a face. A lack in one part is readily filled by the harmony of the whole.
Yet what must not be forgotten is that the shape of the nose does not nail down and decide a person’s fate. A face is made as lived time and heart pile in layers upon the bone one is born with, and the expressions often worn and the stance toward life gradually shift its grain over long years. Just as a brow once always furrowed smooths and a mouth once hardened softens, the face’s energy lives and moves. So to read a face is less to confirm a fixed fortune than to raise a mirror that reflects who you are now.
Herein lies FortuneLeaf’s reason for introducing the reading of the nose — not to line people up by whether the nose is big or small, whether there is a fortune of wealth or not, but to help you understand, clearly and tenderly, the energy held at the center of your face. For the mountains of a face are no hardened fate, but a living landscape that today’s expression and heart reshape, a little anew, each day.