Alternate Spellings: Wani Yuu Dou

Etymology – Wheel Monk

Wanyudo is a well-known monster or yokai in Japanese mythology. He takes the form of a burning oxcart wheel with the face of a bald, tormented man in the center or hub. The image for Wanyudo comes from the Shokoku Hyaku Monogatari, a collection of ghost stories first published in 1677.

This yokai also appears in Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki (“The Illustrated One Hundred Demons from the Present and the Past”) by 18th century Japanese scholar Toriyama Sekien. This book is the second in Sekien’s Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, a supernatural bestiary of ghosts, demons, monsters and other creatures of Japanese folklore.

There are a few folklore references that say Wanyudo is the condemned soul of a tyrannical daimyo, who in life was known for having his victims drawn on the back of an oxcart.

Wanyudo is believed to guard the gates of Hell and wanders back and forth along the road between the living world and the underworld, either scaring people as he passes by or stealing the souls of anyone who gets to close so that he can drag them back down to Hell with him.

Protection from Wanyudo

There is a charm of protection that involves writing on a piece of paper: “Here is the home of a winning mother” and then fixing it on the entry way to your house. This is said or believed to keep Wanyudo away.

According to one source, this charm supposedly refers to a story in the Records of the Grand Historian concerning Confucius’ pupil Zengzi. Apparently, Zengzi was disgusted with his reputation of “winning for his mother” to such a degree, that he couldn’t set foot inside the home of a “winning mother.” Though it’s unclear exactly how this relates to Wanyudo.

Buddhist Wheel

One website I went to commented about the importance of the wheel symbol in Buddhism.

In Buddhism, the wheel represents the teachings of Buddha. The Buddha is the one who turns the wheel or Dharmachakra, “the wheel of law.” In Tibetan, this symbol is called chos kyi’khor lo, meaning “the wheel of transformation.” The turning of the wheel is a metaphor for rapid spiritual change as taught in Buddhism. The spokes of the wheel represent the Noble Eightfold Path laid out by Buddha in his teachings.

The wheel represents the endless cycle of samsara or rebirth that can only be overcome by the teachings of Buddha. There are some Buddhists who see the parts of the wheel as symbolic of the “three trainings” in Buddhist practice. First is the hub, symbolizing moral discipline and thus the mind. Second are the spokes (often shown as eight) symbolizing wisdom used to defeat of ignorance. And finally third, the rim which symbolizes the training of concentration which holds everything together. Dharma as should be noted, in Buddhism, is the teachings or laws of Buddha that expound on Natural Law.

Tibetan Buddhism – Yama

Since we’re on this subject of connecting the Wanyudo to Buddhism, I think it’s interesting to note and point out that one of the Tibetan Buddhist Wrathful Deities, Yama a god of death is sometimes shown as holding the Tibetan wheel of life.

Ixion

The imagery of Wanyudo is also very similar to that of a character from Greek mythology, Ixion, a King of the Lapiths in ancient Thessaly who was punished for his attempted rape of Hera by the god Zeus and tied to a spinning flaming wheel in the underworld of Hades where he calls out: “You should show gratitude to your benefactor.”