Tōfu-kozō

Tōfu-kozō (Japanese: 豆腐小僧, literally tofu boy) is a yōkai of Japan, and is a yōkai that takes on the appearance of a child possessing a tray with tōfu on it. It is a yōkai that frequently appears in the kusazōshi and kibyōshi and kaidan books from the Edo period, and from the Bakumatsu to the Meiji period, people have become familiar with them as a character illustrated on toys such as kites, sugoroku, and karuta. They can also be seen in senryū, kyōka, e-hon banzuke (pamphlets that introduce the contents of a shibai), and nishiki-e, etc.

They generally are depicted wearing bamboo and kasa on their heads, and possessing a round tray with a momiji-dōfu on it (a tōfu with a momiji (autumn leaf) shape pressed into it). The patterns on the clothing they wear, for the sake of warding off smallpox, include lucky charms such as harukoma (春駒), daruma dolls, horned owls, swinging drums, and red fish, and sometimes lattice patterns of the child that shows its status as a child can also be seen.

In the original kusazōshi, they did not possess any special powers, and they often appear as servants that bring tōfu and sake here and there in the town, and it is also changed in senryū such poems like "tōfu-kozō are servant monsters (豆腐小僧ハ化ものゝ小間使ひ^?)." With regards to humans, they sometimes follow humans on rainy nights, but they don't do anything particularly bad, and they usually don't make humans their opponents, and they are frequently depicted as amicable, timid, and humorous characters. Far from doing anything bad, there are also examples where they are teased by other yōkai for being a weak yōkai. In the Heisei era and afterwards, there is also the interpretation that they are appropriate as comforting characters. Also, in　the kibyōshi the "Bakemono Shiuchi Hyōbanki (妖怪仕内評判記^?)" by Koikawa Harumachi from the An'ei era, tōfu-kozō are things that weasels turn into, and in later books, their father has been specified to be Mikoshi Nyūdō and their mother has been specified to be rokurokubi.

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