TSUCHIGUMO 土蜘蛛

Pronunciation: TSOO-chi-GOO-moh

Translation: Earth or Dirt Spider

Also known as: Yatsukahagi (八握脛), Eight Gripping Legs; Ōgumo (大蜘蛛), Big Spider; Yamagumo (山蜘蛛), Mountain Spider

Overview

Tsuchigumo are monster spiders that kill. Similar to other real animals in Japan that live inordinately long lives and then mysteriously turn into yōkai (like the kitsune), these eight-legged crawlies can change into giant foul-tempered beasts. The early-fourteenth-century Tsuchigumo Sōshi (土蜘蛛草子), or Picture Scroll of an Earth Spider, depicts the epic battle between renowned samurai Minamoto no Yorimitsu and one of these cave-dwelling creatures. Various texts through the ages explain legends of battles as well as lists of curiously specific names of individual dirt spiders.

These lists are less eyebrow raising when you realize a second theory is that they aren’t old spiders that transformed into jumbo arachnids but were real people. In earlier times, the word tsuchigumo was a derogatory term used to describe disloyal local clans. The word might have come from tsuchi-gomori, which means “hiding in the earth,” as evidenced by these mavericks who refused to obey the imperial court and lived in caves. They were said to have small bodies but very long arms and legs. Some were rumored to have tails, some of which glowed. This rebel tribe were thought to have shamanistic abilities and were considered uncivilized.

So reviled were these tsuchigumo that there are tales of the first emperor, Jimmu, capturing, killing, and chopping up one (or a band of them) and burying the pieces in different places. It’s unclear whether the enemy he destroyed was the mythical spider or an Indigenous clan of people called the Katsuragi, who lived in that area, were nicknamed “tsuchigumo,” and suffered greatly at the hands of the emperor. A clue, though, is that tsuchigumo only started to be described as giant spiders around the twelfth century, about 1,700 years after Emperor Jimmu eradicated the tsuchigumo.

Background and Popular Stories

Minamoto no Yorimitsu (源頼光) (C.E. 948–1021), who also went by the name Minamoto no Raikō, was a famed samurai who served under the regents of the Fujiwara clan. You may remember him from the entry on Kintarō, when he ran across the young marvel and asked him to join his four legendary devoted followers dubbed Shitennō (四天王), or Four Heavenly Kings. Minamoto no Yorimitsu is connected to quite a few heroic battles against mythical beasts and yōkai.

The tale of the battle between Yorimitsu and a tsuchigumo has been told and retold, and many versions exist. It’s been turned into a Noh play and performed on the Kabuki stage (both versions eponymously named Tsuchigumo). The story usually goes like this.

Once upon a time, Minamoto no Yorimitsu suddenly fell very ill for no apparent reason. As he was usually so strong and full of vigor, his condition baffled everyone. There was nothing he could do but rest.

Late one night, he woke a little delirious from fever and saw by the paper lantern light a priest sitting beside his futon. They exchange a little conversation, and even though he was feeling unwell and his mind was foggy, Yorimitsu could sense something was off about this man. This priest was unexpectedly dark in color and larger than a real person. That’s when Yorimitsu realized it wasn’t a priest at all. It was a giant tsuchigumo!

The spider, sensing it had been found out, spit a spray of webs from its mouth at the prone warrior. But Minamoto no Yorimitsu was no fool. He slept with his cherished sword, Hizamaru, tucked under his futon. With a swift movement, he sliced through the webs, hitting and injuring the spider/priest. Yorimitsu collapsed and the monster fled.

The next day, Yorimitsu, still not well but determined to finish off the tsuchigumo that he thought had attempted to murder him in his sleep, rose and called his comrades, the Shitennō. Together, the five samurai followed the bloody trail left by the spider beast. It led all the way to Mount Katsuragi in Nara Prefecture.

There they found the enormous tsuchigumo waiting for them. They learned it was hundreds of years old and was harboring a grudge. This tsuchigumo was actually an onryō (angry spirit) of those original local clans that had been wiped out by Emperor Jimmu so many years in the past. It was also the tsuchigumo that was making Minamoto no Yorimitsu sick.

Together the warriors battled the giant beast, which had very long legs and shot both webs and poison from its mouth. Finally, Yorimitsu epically decapitated the tsuchigumo. Another slice of a blade split open its stomach, and out poured 1,990 skulls—its many victims.

Yorimitsu immediately felt better; the curse had been lifted. He renamed his sword from Hizamaru to Kumokiri (蜘蛛切), or Spider Cutter, and the yōkai aberration was cut into pieces (head, body, and legs), each piece being buried separately from the others, similar to what Emperor Jimmu did back in his time. This method was thought to avoid any future curse the creature might enact. One noted place of burial is Katsuragi Hitokotonushi Shrine in Nara. If you go there today, you can still find a stone marked “Kumozuka” (蜘蛛塚), which is the spider’s grave.

As for the sword renamed Kumokiri, it, too, is still in existence, although it has changed names again and again through time, and its lineage becomes confusing. There are now three swords that claim to be the original.

In Modern Stories

The earth spider isn’t dead yet in popular culture, at least. You can find the Tsuchigumo Clan in the manga and anime Naruto, where it even has a small fort on Mount Katsuragi. In the manga and anime Nurarihyon no Mago, Tsuchigumo is a well-muscled man with multiple arms. A massive spider appears in several episodes of the anime Detective Conan.