In Japanese folklore, what demon is a bald, one-eyed child-like yokai?

In Japanese folklore, Hitotsume-kozō is the demon-like yokai depicted as a bald, one-eyed child.

The name means roughly “one-eyed boy,” and the creature is commonly shown with a single eye in the center of its forehead, much like a cyclops. Its shaved head and clothing resemble those of a kozō, a young Buddhist acolyte or novice monk. Unlike many frightening monsters, Hitotsume-kozō are generally portrayed as mischievous but comparatively harmless.

Stories say they suddenly appear to surprise travelers, householders, or people walking at night. Their appearance became especially recognizable through Edo-period illustrated yokai catalogues and picture scrolls. Some depictions show them carrying tofu, although folklore researchers have noted that this association may have developed through wordplay and later popular storytelling.

Hitotsume-kozō are easy to confuse with Mikoshi-nyūdō, a much larger yokai whose body seems to grow as a viewer looks upward. They are also distinct from Noppera-bō, the faceless ghost, and Kasa-obake, the animated umbrella. The “demon” label is a useful quiz description, but yokai is the broader Japanese category.