What is the tsuchigumo?
The tsuchigumo is known as a yokai in the form of a giant spider. It has been depicted in picture scrolls, Noh and kabuki as a fearsome creature that spits threads to entangle people and causes illness.
Originally a name for people who resisted the court
People called “tsuchigumo” appear in the Kojiki, the Nihon Shoki and the provincial Fudoki. The name is thought to have been a contemptuous term for local chieftains and groups who did not submit to the Yamato court. Descriptions of them living in pits and having long limbs later merged into the image of a spider yokai.
Minamoto no Raiko and the earth spider
In the medieval period, a legend arose that a suspicious monk appeared at the sickbed of Minamoto no Raiko and, when it revealed itself as a giant earth spider, Raiko slashed it with his famous sword. The story is told in the “Tsurugi no Maki” chapter of The Tale of the Heike, the picture scroll Tsuchigumo Zoshi and the Noh play Tsuchigumo, and a site said to be the earth spider’s mound remains in Kyoto.
