Akabeko (赤べこ, Akabeko, red cow) is a traditional toy from the Aizu region of Japan.

The toy is made from two pieces of papier-mâché shaped and painted to look like a red cow or ox. One piece represents the cow's head and neck and the other its body. The head and neck hangs from a string and fits into the hollow body. When the toy is moved, the head thus bobs up and down and side to side.

Aizu legend claims that the toys are based on a real cow that lived in the 9th century and showed its devotion to Buddha by willing its soul away or by refusing to leave the site of a temple it had helped to construct.

The earliest akabeko toys were created in the late 16th or early 17th century. Over time, people came to believe that the toys could ward off smallpox and other illnesses.

Akabeko has become one of Fukushima Prefecture's most famous crafts and a symbol of the Aizu region.