Also known as Fukūkensaku Kannon. His name, "non-empty noose," is pronounced differently in Shingon 真言 (Fukaukenjaku) and Tendai 天台 (Fukūkensaku) contexts. He is counted as one of the Six Kannon, *Roku Kannon 六観音, in Tendai. An early esoteric Buddhist deity, images of him exist in India, though no earlier than the 9th century. The relevant sutras were translated into Chinese in the Sui and Tang dynasties, though a mid-Tang painting in Dunhuang (Jp: Tonkō 敦煌) is the earliest extant Chinese example. In Southeast Asia bronze examples date from the 8th century, and in Japan images also begin to appear in the Nara period. He appears in a number of paintings as well, and in the Kannon Section of the Womb World Mandala, *Taizōkai mandara 胎蔵界曼荼羅, where he is shown seated with three faces and four arms. Various forms of Fukūkenjaku Kannon exist, with different numbers of faces and arms, some of these forms difficult to identify. The noose and a deer/antelope skin, kesa 袈裟 (Buddhist surplice), thrown over his shoulder are distinguishing attributes, but the noose (sometimes a real rope) may be missing and so may the deer skin. Explanations of the noose differ, too. It is considered an instrument with which Fukūkenjaku saves sentient beings, just as birds and game are caught. The noose binds attachment. A large number of texts are concerned with Fukūkenjaku Kannon. In the Fukūkenjaku shinpen shingonkyō 不空羂索神変真言経, Fukūkenjaku Kannon is likened to *Daijizaiten 大自在天, one of the names of the Hindu deity Shiva. Fukūkenjaku has esoteric connections with *Jizō 地蔵, *Fudō Myōō 不動明王, and *Dainichi 大日. Famous examples include the huge image (362 cm tall) at *Hokkedō 法華堂 (also known as Sangatsudō 三月堂, made c. 747) in Tōdaiji 東大寺, Nara, and that in the Nan'endō 南円堂 of Kōfukuji 興福寺, Nara, dated 1189 (original destroyed). Few images of Fukūkenjaku were made after the Nara period. Although the reason is unclear, it may be due to the formal introduction of esoteric practice in the early 9th century. It has been also suggested that it is due to his importance to the Fujiwara 藤原 family, for whom he was a protective deity (particularly in the case of the Nan'endō of Kōfukuji, the Fujiwara family temple), since he was identified as the *honjibutsu 本地仏 of their ujigami 氏神 (family *kami 神), Kasuga Daimyōjin 春日大明神.