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Monstrum: Jorogumo--The Deadly Spider Woman From Yokai Lore

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      HOST: People are freaked out by spiders. It's not just that they have so many disproportionately long legs or move erratically, it's also that they have fangs that can bite you, and they kill things way bigger than they are. Yeah, real spiders are scary. But how about a giant spider that could actually eat you? Meet the jorogumo, taking the scary spider thing to a whole other level for centuries. Appearing as an attractive woman to lure her victims to a painful death, this giant shape-shifting spider of Japanese folklore is both beautiful and deadly, like the real-world spider that shares her name. For now, let's explore how this deadly female monster snared imagination in her web by taking a look at ancient storytelling and the mysterious world of the Japanese yokai.

      [MUSIC PLAYING]

      (Describer) An orange eye opens.

      I'm Dr. Emily Zarka, and this is Monstrum. Broadly speaking, the word yokai refers to any weird or supernatural creature or phenomena in Japanese folklore. Yokai offer explanations for things that seem unusual or defy the known world. They are personal and cultural, shifting meaning or appearance based on who is telling the story and for what purpose. A yokai can be pretty much anything strange, from oddly moving smoke to head-eating spirits, or even a mischievous paper umbrella. The word yokai is made from two Chinese characters--kanji-- that both indicate strangeness or mystery. And the word appears in Japanese text at least as early as the 8th century. The term popped up more frequently in the mid-Edo period, but wasn't really popularized as the term for anything unexplainable until the Meiji period. A 20th century Japanese folklorist solidified its place in culture when he began using it in his academic writing. Before yokai became the common term for all things creepy, spooky, and strange in Japan, there were a whole slew of names. The name changed based on time period and cultural popularity. In the Heian period, oni referred to anything threatening, although most often, that thing was a demon or ogre that had a human-like shape. During the Edo period, another word could be used to label any shape-shifting being or any oddly formed or scary creature.

      (Describer) Bakemono .

      So the jorogumo falls under any of these categories, since it is a strange threatening creature that can take on a human shape or a spider form. Covering all the bases with all those legs, I guess. Jorogumo first appeared in literature in the Edo period. It is highly likely that they previously existed as part of an oral folklore tradition. The "joro" in jorogumo translates to prostitute, but is also associated with the word joro, which historically referred to the women who waited on female royalty. Also known as the binding bride, whore spider, entangling bride, and harlot spider, this shape-shifting creature is unsurprisingly known for her ability to lure handsome men into her clutches by disguising herself as a beautiful woman before using a painful venom to kill her victim slowly. In some stories, this venom gives the monster the ability to shape-shift. The jorogumo is said to spin silk strong enough to capture a man in her web, and she can control other spiders. Illustrations sometimes show this creature as a woman with spider legs, or just as a large spider. Spiders play a central role in a lot of Japanese folklore. The earliest known surviving Japanese text depicting a monstrous spider, a picture scroll from the 14th century, includes a story about a shape-shifting earth spider that first appears to two warriors as a beautiful woman. She tries to trap them by throwing balls of silk webbing before they stab her and she flees. Later, the men find a many-legged creature wounded in the same area the woman was stabbed. They cut the creature's abdomen open and almost 2,000 human heads fall out, along with spiders the size of small children. The creature is called a yamagumo, or mountain spider, in the text. This seems awfully similar to the jorogumo, and it definitely shows the association between beautiful women and spiders in Japanese folklore. One of the earliest written stories of a jorogumo comes from a 17th century text. It tells of a young samurai who takes shelter in an abandoned structure strung with spider webs. He's approached by a young woman carrying a child who she insists was fathered by him. The man is instantly suspicious, since the woman was traveling alone at night in a remote place. The child goes to approach the samurai many times, but turns away each time when it sees the man's sword. Annoyed and impatient, the man slashes the woman with his blade. She flees to the rafters. The next morning, the samurai finds an attic where a giant two-foot-long spider lays, dying from deep cuts along its back, exactly like the ones he gave the young woman. A stone grave statue of a young child is there as well. The samurai looks up and sees a horrific sight-- carcasses of all the spiderwoman's victims wrapped in her web. Another tale from an 18th century collection of ghost stories has a different twist. One hot summer day, a man, the heir of a wealthy samurai family, relaxes and sings on his porch. Suddenly a woman, who appears to be about 50 years old, approaches him. She tells him that his singing is so beautiful, it's making her daughter fall in love with him. So much so, that she wants to marry him. Curious to know if what the woman says is true, he follows her to a large mansion. Inside, he finds a beautiful woman who begs him to consider her as his bride. He declines her offer because he is, in fact, already wed. Both the young woman and her mother beg him to reconsider. But he remains resolute in his devotion to his wife. So he runs from the mansion. But the second he steps outside the door, it mysteriously vanishes, turning back into the bamboo surrounding his own house. His servants insist that he has been on the porch sleeping the entire time, but the man cannot believe that what he experienced was only a dream. Suddenly, he sees a female spider scuttling away. Looking around, he realizes his home is strung with numerous spider webs, even though earlier he had driven the spiders away with his pipe smoke. Then he remembered how the beautiful girl told him the older woman had also been driven away by smoking. He orders the servants to remove the webs and, fortunately for him, the jorogumo never comes to him again. An attempted revenge via bigamy and a trick to lure a man to his death? Not all yokai are monsters, but the jorogumo most certainly is. But why spiders at all? You could argue that part of the association comes from the cultural idea that women are out to ensnare men with their physical or sexual appeal, or because of the construction of the spider web itself. Weaving, spinning, and other elements of textile production were historically areas women dominated. Silk weaving, in particular, was an important cultural, religious, and economic activity in Japan. Then there's the real-life life joro spider, or jorogumo spider, a member of the Nephila genus, commonly called a golden orb-weaver in English. With their large size and unique yellow-colored silk and webs, it's unsurprising that, in Japan, these spiders are said to have supernatural powers. Some tales say that once these spiders reach 400 years of age, they develop magical powers and can feed on humans. They can also shape-shift into beautiful young women. Interestingly, female golden orb-weaver spiders are much larger than their drab brown-colored male counterparts. The females are yellow, red, and black, and can be up to four times larger than the males of the species, reaching three- to four-inch-wide leg spans. Their golden webs can be large enough to even trap small birds and bats. Given the name of these spiders and how closely its legends relate to the yokai, my guess is that the real golden orb-weaver spider helped inspire the original oral folklore of the jorogumo. Scary lady spider equals scary spider lady. The East Asian golden orb-weaver spider was first discovered in North America in 2014, which seems ironic, given that their fictional counterpart is becoming increasingly popular here and in other parts of the globe. While long associated with folklore in Japan, yokai have left a strong literary and visual history. When illustrated scrolls became popular during the classical Heian period, yokai that largely existed as oral stories took on visual form. By recording these unusual beings, their forms became more solidified in how they were portrayed. But the art inspired many other different kinds of yokai as well. Today, we've seen a similar resurgence as the jorogumo becomes more well-known outside of Japan. The Internet and a world that's more connected than ever made Manga and anime more popular outside of Japan. And the jorogumo pops up in both of these. I'm always fascinated by monsters that are exclusively female. And, at least with the jorogumo, there might be a good reason, a reason seemingly based on a real animal. Cultural and spiritual beliefs mixed together with the natural world weave together a story that is completely unique and absolutely terrifying. Cool, cool, cool, cool. Jorogumo--the joro-goomo-- ugh! Fortunately, the joro-gumo-- Oh my God! Jorogumo.

      CREW MEMBER: OK, cool. OK, sick.

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      Now Playing As: English with English captions (change)

      Although able to appear as a beautiful young woman, the jorogumo is really a deadly spider monster in disguise. This episode dives into the fascinating world of yokai and the long history of beautiful women and spiders in Japanese folklore. Learn about the real-world spider that may have inspired this monster and discover two of the oldest recorded jorogumo stories in existence. Part of the "Monstrum" series. Please note this title contains mature themes and potentially offensive language.

      Media Details

      Runtime: 9 minutes 53 seconds

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