kenjaku 羂索

Also read kensaku, kenzaku; also saku 索. A rope, made from five different colored strands (blue, yellow, red, black, and white). It often has a metal ring at one end, and one or more prongs, like a *kongōsho 金剛杵, at the other. Found as an attribute *jimotsu 持物 held by Buddhist deities including *Fudō Myōō 不動明王, *Fukūkenjaku Kannon 不空羂索観音, Kongōsaku bosatsu 金剛索菩薩, and *Senju Kannon 千手観音. In ancient India the kenjaku was used as a snare to capture animals, and it was adopted by Buddhism as a symbol of the salvation of mankind. A good example of a figure holding a kenjaku is the Fudō Myōō in Henjōji 遍照寺 (10th-12th century), Kyoto.