Hitotsume kozo

Hitotsume-kozo ( 一 目 目 小僧 Hitotsume-kozo: “One-eyed boy”) is a Japanese- style youkai resembling a boy with a bald head like a Buddhist monk's head, long tongue and only one huge eye in the center of his face.

According to popular beliefs, chitotsume-kodzo were relatively harmless, did not harm people, but only scared them. However, a meeting with hitotsume-kozo was considered a bad sign, and in order to scare him away, people left bamboo baskets in front of the house. It was believed that when he saw many holes in the basket, hitotsume-kozo would think that she had many eyes and would run away, ashamed that he had only one eye.