HITOTSUME KOZŌ 一つ目小僧

Pronunciation: Hee-TOH-tsoo-may ko-ZOH

Translation: The One-Eyed Boy or One-Eyed Boy Monk

Similar to: Kasa (or Karakasa) Obake (傘お化け); Chōchin Obake (提灯お化け), and sometimes mistaken for the Tōfu Kozō (豆腐小僧)

Overview

The hitotsume kozō is one of the sillier yōkai. This mythical beastie looks like a bald boy of about seven to ten years old who wears traditional clothes complete with a straw hat and geta shoes. In some depictions, he looks more like the young monk the latter part of his name, kozō, suggests. He might be carrying a paper lantern, a staff, a broom, or nothing at all—oh, and he also has a single unblinking eye in the middle of his face that glows. If you’re lucky, you’ll encounter one with a lolling tongue as well.

Except for depictions in a few unusual and highly disturbing origin stories, these goofy little fellows aren’t evil at all and intend no real harm. It appears that their main life purpose lies in the enjoyment they derive from terrifying unsuspecting fools who unknowingly stumble upon them.

During the Edo era (1603–1867), which was considered the golden age of yōkai, tales abounded about this merry prankster. He could be found hiding in the shadows of some dimly lit street or behind a tree on a lonely path, waiting for the right moment to spring out and scare an innocent passerby.

There are a couple of other yōkai that are similar to hitotsume kozō in terms of appearance and antics. One is the kasa obake (傘お化け), or karakasa obake (which is written with the same kanji characters). This one resembles an old-fashioned paper umbrella with one eye and one leg and has a penchant for hopping around and spooking people. Sometimes it shows off a long dangling tongue too. A few have two arms and, even more rarely, two legs.

Then there’s the chōchin obake (提灯お化け), also dubbed the “bura-bura” by artist Toriyama Sekien. This beast is a time-worn paper lantern with a split across one of its thin bamboo ribs, giving it a mouth, from which hangs that ever-so-ridiculous oversized tongue both the hitotsume kozō and the kasa obake flaunt. The chōchin obake have one-eyed and two-eyed varieties, and they, too, are almost always portrayed as silly goofballs.

Background and Popular Stories

Yanagita Kunio (柳田國男) (1875–1962), the great folklorist who penned Tōno Monogatari (遠野物語), or The Legends of Tono (1910), proposed that yōkai are fallen gods. He also suggested hitotsume kozō were disgraced mountain deities. This makes sense since some legends mention mountain gods having “crossed eyes.” But “crossed eyes” was another way of saying having a single eye.

Another theory put forth by Yanagita Kunio revolves around human sacrifice. In certain communities, when an individual was chosen for this solemn duty, one of their eyes might be intentionally blinded. This served as a way to identify them when the time for the ritual arrived (these rituals sometimes took place as far as one year into the future). Additionally, it was believed that a single-eyed person was more readily able to communicate with the gods. As a result, the selected individual received special treatment and was doted upon throughout the entire period leading up to the final sacrifice.