atō Kannon, an icon of Mikkyō esoteric Buddhism, commonly of a benevolent nature, is represented here with an angry appearance: the three furious faces, all with the third front eye, are surmounted by an equine head emerging from the thick hair. Sitting in the lotus position, he has eight arms: the front hands reproduce the mushofushi-in gesture (mudrā of ubiquity) while sword, wheel, sceptre, axe and vajra, attributes that Batō Kannon usually carries in the other six hands, have unfortunately been lost in our specimen. He is responsible for the realm in which souls are reborn in the form of animals (or beings whose state of mind is similar to that of animals). His task is to combat the lack of wisdom and earthly desires that make human beings more like beasts. During the Edo period, he also began to be venerated as a protector of horses and by extension also of cattle and herd.