Hitotsume-kozō

Hitotsume-kozō (一つ目小僧) are a Yōkai of Japan that take on the appearance of a bald child with one eye in the center of its forehead similar to a cyclops.

They generally do not cause any injury, and they are said to suddenly appear and surprise people, and is a comparatively harmless type of yōkai. By that, it can be said that their behavior could also be understood in terms of the karakasa-obake. Perhaps because they don't perform bad deeds, when they are depicted in pictures, they are often depicted cutely, or in a humorous design.

In yōkai karuta, hitotsume-kozō are depicted carrying tōfu, but according to the yōkai researcher Katsumi Tada, since "mame (豆粒, bean pieces^?)" leads to "mametsu (魔滅, sound health^?)", hitotsume-kozō are supposed to dislike beans, but somehow before anyone knew it the hitotsume-kozō switched to having tōfu (made from soybeans) as its favorite food. Additionally, this said to be related to the tōfu-kozō.

They take on the appearance of a kozō (a monk in training), but there is also the theory that they come from the yōkai from Mount Hiei, the ichigan hitoashi hōshi (一眼一足法師, one-eyed one-footed Buddhist priest^?) said to be what the 18th Tendaizasu, Ryōgen turned into. See also Hitotsume-nyūdō.

...
Wikipedia