What is the wanyudo?
The wanyudo is a yokai with the face of a terrifying shaven-headed man in the center of a flaming ox-cart wheel. It is known from its depiction by the Edo-period artist Toriyama Sekien in his 1779 yokai book Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki.
A wheel yokai that steals souls
According to Sekien’s note, anyone who sees the wanyudo has their soul taken. But if you write “This is the village of Shobo” on paper and post it at your door, the wanyudo cannot come near. The phrase is thought to come from an anecdote in the Chinese history Records of the Grand Historian, in which Zengzi, famous for his devotion to his parents, refused to enter a village called “Shobo” because its name meant “overcoming one’s mother.”
The “katawa-guruma” of Higashinotoin, Kyoto
The wanyudo is thought to be based on the story of a wheel yokai called “katawa-guruma” that appeared night after night on Higashinotoin Street in Kyoto, in the 1677 ghost story collection Shokoku Hyaku Monogatari. Sekien is thought to have drawn the wanyudo with a man’s face and the katawaguruma carrying a woman as separate yokai based on this story.
Vehicle yokai
Other yokai linked with ox-carts include the oboroguruma, an ox-cart with a huge face, and the kasha, the fire cart that steals the corpses of sinners. The wanyudo is also popular in modern manga and games as a character in the form of a burning wheel.
