Jorōgumo is a type of yōkai, a creature of Japanese folklore. It can shapeshift into a beautiful woman, so the kanji that represent its actual meaning are 女郎蜘蛛 (lit. ’woman-spider’); the kanji which are used to write it instead, 絡新婦 (lit. ’entangling newlywed woman’) have a jukujikun pronunciation that is related to the meaning, but not the sound of the word. In Toriyama Sekien’s Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, it is depicted as a spider woman manipulating small fire-breathing spiders. Jorōgumo can also refer to some species of spiders, such as the Nephila and Argiope spiders. Japanese-speaking entomologists use the katakana form of jorōgumo (ジョロウグモ) to refer exclusively to the spider species Trichonephila clavata, and this has been adopted into English as “Joro spider”. In Edo period writings such as the Taihei-Hyakumonogatari (太平百物語) and the Tonoigusa (宿直草), there are “jorogumo” that shapeshift into women.
Alias Jorōgumo (絡新婦)
Real Names/Alt Names “Woman-spider”, “Entangling newlywed woman”
Appearance List Tonoigusa (宿直草, 1677), Taihei-Hyakumonogatari (太平百物語, 1732), Gazu Hyakki Yagyō (画図百鬼夜行, “The Illustrated Night Parade of a Hundred Demons” or The Illustrated Demon Horde’s Night Parade, 1776) Vol. 2 “Yang”
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Description Jorōgumo is a type of yōkai, a creature of Japanese folklore. It can shapeshift into a beautiful woman, so the kanji that represent its actual meaning are 女郎蜘蛛 (lit. ’woman-spider’); the kanji which are used to write it instead, 絡新婦 (lit. ’entangling newlywed woman’) have a jukujikun pronunciation that is related to the meaning, but not the sound of the word. In Toriyama Sekien’s Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, it is depicted as a spider woman manipulating small fire-breathing spiders. Jorōgumo can also refer to some species of spiders, such as the Nephila and Argiope spiders. Japanese-speaking entomologists use the katakana form of jorōgumo (ジョロウグモ) to refer exclusively to the spider species Trichonephila clavata, and this has been adopted into English as “Joro spider”. In Edo period writings such as the Taihei-Hyakumonogatari (太平百物語) and the Tonoigusa (宿直草), there are “jorogumo” that shapeshift into women.
