Oboroguruma

Overview

A large human face occupies the front opening of a carriage in Sekien’s Oboroguruma illustration. Rounded eyes, a toothed mouth and flowing beard replace the expected passenger view. The carriage body is rendered largely with broken outlines, while the face receives dense, continuous lines. This contrast makes the vehicle appear insubstantial without obscuring the expression that identifies it as a being.

The printed title 朧車 provides the named witness. The image connects an ordinary form of transport with an extraordinary face, making the vehicle itself the focus of the apparition. It supplies neither a separate rider nor a demonstrated attack. Later summaries of haunted carriage rivalries need independent narrative witnesses; the inspected page securely supports this particular visual conjunction of vehicle and human features.

Origins & earliest records

Toriyama Sekien, Konjaku Hyakki Shūi (first published 1781), volume 2; the named plate was directly inspected in the digitized institutional copy. This dates a selected representation, not an earliest oral belief.

Records & interpretation

Printed label 朧車 and creature composition directly checked in the enlarged primary scan. The cursive explanatory commentary has not been fully transcribed; detailed popular narratives are excluded unless supported separately.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Konjaku Hyakki Shūi

   Toriyama Sekien · 1781

   Volume 2; IIIF canvas index 4 (zero-based); HyakkishuYiV2Tori_0005.jp2. Named illustration directly inspected.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Institutional primary-book recordKonjaku Hyakki Shūi — Smithsonian Libraries digitized volume 2Research access: 2026-10-05
2. Primary illustrated plate / institutional digitizationOboroguruma (朧車) — exact inspected primary plateResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

Oboroguruma, named plate by Toriyama Sekien

Printed label 朧車 and the pictured composition directly inspected at enlarged resolution. A human face emerges from the front of a ghostly carriage in Sekien’s Oboroguruma plate. The exact image URL comes from the returned IIIF manifest, not a guessed page ID.