Hitotsume-kozō

Edo period obake karuta card depicting a hitotsume-kozō^{[citation needed]}

Hitotsume-kozō (一つ目小僧, "one-eyed boys")^{[citation needed]} are obake found in Japanese folklore.^{[citation needed]}

Description

Hitotsume-kozō are roughly "the size of ten-year-old children,"^{[citation needed]} but otherwise "resemble bald Buddhist monks."^{[citation needed]} Their most distinctive feature, however, is a "single, giant eye peering from the center of the face, along with a long tongue, much like a Tsukomogami."^{[citation needed]}

Hitotsume-kozō are relatively harmless creatures,^{[citation needed]} content to "run about frightening people or telling loud people to be quiet."^{[citation needed]}

Since many people consider an encounter with a [Hitotsume-kozō] to be a bad omen ... often [they] leave bamboo baskets in front of their houses, as these are reputed to repel the creatures. A reason for this may be that, in seeing the basket's many holes, the Hitotsume-kozō will see the basket as having many eyes, and run away jealous and ashamed at only having one.^{[citation needed]}

Sources

• The Obakemono Project (citing sources)