Daily mythical creature 75: the Wanyūdō [Japanese folklore]!

(image source: l5r.fandom.com)
If you ever hear a strange sound at night, coming from the street, and it sounds like a single cart wheel bumbling through the roads, then whatever you do: don’t look at it! According to Japanese folklore, it may be a Wanyūdō. Literally translated, the name means ‘monk wheel’ and that is exactly what it is: a wagon wheel with the head of a monk in the middle. It is said that if you look directly at this strange monster, it will take your soul away. To protect yourself, you can hang a protective talisman (a piece of paper with some symbols on it) on your door at night.

One legend claims that a woman could not resist her curiosity and took a peak at the creature. It faced her directly and said “instead of looking at me, look at your child!” She looked at her baby and saw that it was dying, in a pool of blood, with its legs missing. She turned to look at the Wanyūdō and saw that he was eating the baby’s legs.

(the image comes from Toriyama Sekien’s book “Gazu Hyakki Yagyo”, which is an 18th century compendium of mythological creatures from Japan)

Though there is another variation of the story that has a better ending, in which the woman pleads to punish her instead of the baby, as looking was her own fault and the child did nothing wrong. Moved by her willingness to take the punishment to save her baby, the Wanyūdō returned her child in one piece and left without hurting anyone.

Source:

the Gazu Hyakki Yagyo from Toriyama Sekien, I personally read the “Japandemonium” translation by Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt.

(Also Wikipedia for the story of the baby)