Mehitotsu-bō 眼一ツ坊

Mehitotsu-bō (眼一ツ坊), the “One-Eyed Monk,” is a mysterious and ancient apparition from the mountain forests, often seen as a fallen deity or a spirit of the deep woods.

Meaning and Origin

The name literally means “Eye-One Monk” (me - eye, hitotsu - one, bō - monk).

It is closely related to the more famous Hitotsume-kozō, but while the kozō is usually depicted as a mischievous child, the Mehitotsu-bō is a more weathered and primal figure. In ancient Japanese mythology, one-eyed and one-legged creatures were often associated with mountain gods (Yama-no-kami) who had been demoted to yokai status after farmers stopped worshiping them.

Characteristics

Based on depictions in the Hyakki Yagyō Emaki (Night Parade Scroll), the Mehitotsu-bō appears as a green-skinned being with long, spindly arms and sharp fangs. Its most striking feature is a massive, single eye in the center of its forehead, often shown emitting a strange, red beam of light.

Unlike many city-dwelling yokai, the Mehitotsu-bō is rarely seen from the waist down in traditional art, often appearing from behind a tree or rising out of a mountain mist. It is described as having a “scruffy, unkempt beard” and a look of deep, ancient exhaustion.

Legends

In the legends of the Kii Peninsula, Mehitotsu-bō is said to be the spirit of a monk who spent his entire life searching for a secret scroll in the mountain caves, eventually losing his sight and his humanity. He now haunts the trails at dusk, peering through the fog with his one glowing eye.

Travelers who encounter him are usually not harmed, but they often experience a “missing time” phenomenon, finding themselves miles away from where they started with no memory of how they got there. It is said that if you offer him a handful of rice, he will use his glowing eye to reveal the safest path through the storm, showing that even in his monstrous form, a shred of his former monastic benevolence remains.