also: いんそう
noun
mudra; hand sign
A symbolic hand gesture used in Buddhism and Hindu traditions, often seen in statues and iconography. The term is technical but widely recognized in cultural contexts.
仏像の印相にはそれぞれ意味がある。
Each mudra of a Buddhist statue has its own meaning.
この印相は「施無畏印」と呼ばれる。
This hand sign is called the 'fear-not mudra'.
From Middle Chinese 印相 (ʔin-sjang), a Buddhist term meaning 'mudra' or 'hand gesture'. The reading いんぞう is the standard Sino-Japanese reading; いんそう is a variant.