◆ Kazuo Umezu Cat Eyed Boy Nekome Kozo Menko Horror Yokai Manga Japan Lot Vintage ◆
Cat Eyed Boy (Nekome Kozo) is one of Kazuo Umezu’s classic horror manga works.
Born between the human and yokai worlds, Cat Eyed Boy belongs fully to neither. Rejected by yokai and feared by humans, he grows up as an outsider.
For a manga originally created for young readers in the late 1960s, Cat Eyed Boy could be remarkably disturbing. Its stories venture into death, severed bodies, grotesque physical transformations, monstrous flesh and other unsettling imagery, with loneliness and rejection running beneath the horror.
Seen today, Cat Eyed Boy’s position between two worlds also gives the story another resonance. He is rejected not because of anything he has done, but simply because of what he is: too human for the yokai world, yet too strange for the human world.
Written nearly six decades ago, that sense of prejudice, exclusion, and fear toward someone perceived as different does not feel entirely distant today. What makes Cat Eyed Boy especially moving is that he does not answer that rejection with hatred. Despite being feared and pushed away, he remains gentle at heart and continues to help others.
Beneath all the grotesque monsters and disturbing imagery, there is something deeply human in that.
The story also carries a surprisingly tender theme: the search for his mother. After losing the woman who raised him, Cat Eyed Boy learns that his birth mother is still somewhere in the world and sets out across Japan to find her, encountering strange yokai and terrifying events along the way.
His journey brings to mind Marco in 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother. Their worlds could hardly be more different, yet both are stories of a child setting out on a long journey for someone deeply important to him, facing unexpected encounters and hardships along the way.
In Cat Eyed Boy, however, that longing unfolds within Kazuo Umezu’s unmistakable world of horror, among yokai, grotesque monsters, death and supernatural events. Beneath all that darkness is a lonely child searching for where he belongs.
This lot includes 12 vintage Japanese menko featuring vivid images of Cat Eyed Boy, monsters and yokai.
The pieces come in several different shapes and formats, including rectangular, narrow rectangular, round and die-cut menko. Some designs are repeated; please see the photos for the exact assortment included in this lot.
Together, they capture the unusual mixture of horror, loneliness, grotesque imagery and humanity that makes Cat Eyed Boy so distinctive.
Several of the pieces are especially interesting on the reverse.
Six of the rectangular menko feature numbered character and yokai profiles, with the character’s name and a short description printed in Japanese:
No. 4 – Yokai Rokurokubi (妖怪ろくろ首)
No. 16 – Yokai Joro-gumo / Spider Woman (妖怪女郎蜘蛛)
No. 20 – Cat Eyed Boy / Nekome Kozo (猫目小僧)
No. 29 – Yokai Crying Man (妖怪泣き男)
No. 30 – Yokai Ao-Daisho / Giant Snake (妖怪青大将)
No. 31 – Yokai Ancient Warrior (妖怪古武士)
The green die-cut menko have “Nekome Kozo” (ねこ目小僧) printed on the reverse, together with a V-sign / peace-sign hand symbol and the number 14307.
The narrow rectangular pieces have another game-style reverse design featuring an illustrated boy, the Japanese word “Gensui” (元帥, Marshal), and the number 538745.
These varied reverse designs are part of the charm of vintage Japanese menko, which combined manga imagery with numbers, symbols and game elements.
Menko were traditional Japanese game pieces enjoyed by children and were often decorated with popular manga characters, heroes, monsters and other imagery of the period.
Today, these pieces are fascinating survivors of Showa-era Japanese popular culture, bringing together a traditional children’s game and the strange, unsettling world of Kazuo Umezu’s horror manga.
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Creator: Kazuo Umezu
Title: Cat Eyed Boy / Nekome Kozo (猫目小僧)
Format: Japanese Menko
Quantity: 12 pieces
Theme: Horror / Yokai / Manga
Country of Origin: Japan
Era: Showa Era / Vintage
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Condition:
Vintage condition with signs of age, handling and storage.
Please carefully check all photos for the exact assortment and condition of each piece.
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