Japanese Yokai The Kejoro / keyuro

 

A kejōrō’s / keyuro is a Yokai that's most often seen around the red light district near brothels.

The name literally means Hair hooker / hairy prostitute..

Hair(ke) Hooker(joro)

Sometimes spelled yuro..

Her victims are the  men who frequent brothels.

As the story goes,.... A man will see a woman from  behind, he approaches her but when she turns around, her face and body are covered in thick hair, hiding her face. 

Once her victim is shocked by the sight before him, she takes this moment to attack, tangling him up in her hair and using it to slice and cut him up. Though kejōrō-related fatalities are very rare despite the many cuts.

Though her appearance to humans may be somewhat frightening, male Yokai find her very attractive.

In fact she is so popular that male yokai will Often  fight  for her affection.

 Kejōrō sometimes   return this devotion by cutting off some of her hair and sending it to her lover (human or yokai), or tattoo his name into her skin to prove her  love to him.

The earliest records of a kejōrō go back to Toriyama Sekien’s “One Hundred Demons of the Past and Present.” There is some debate over his original description as to whether the kejōrō has a normal face under the matte of hair, or whether she is a faceless monster, related to the nopperabō or the ohaguro-bettari, with various yokai researches weighing in on either side of the question.

In the original stories she's a prostitute whose face and body are hidden behind a curtain of long, black hair. She appears in red-light districts and brothels. In most stories, its only the hair on her head that is abnormally thick and long, but in other versions, her whole body is covered in thick hair, like an animal.

Her appearance is still disputed some say she's a woman with a lot of hair that drapes over her body, others claim she's a strange creature made entirely of hair with no body underneath . She has been depicted both ways, largely at the personal preference of the artist .

,....

The most common telling of the story and the earliest records of the kejōrō go back to Toriyama Sekien’s “One Hundred Demons of the Past and Present

A man is venturing into the Yoshiwara red light district one evening, when he sees a prostitute walking down the street. From the rear, he recognizes her as one of his favorites, and so rushes up to claim her. When she turns around, she reveals her entire body is made up of hair, with no skin visible. “

Toriyama may have been influenced by a similar monster from Chinese mythology, called the Hair Woman (毛女). The Hair Woman is also made up entirely of hair, although she does not have the same connection to the red light district and prostitution. She comes from an old Chinese book投轄録 (Tou Xia Lu-Yu Zhao Xin Zhi; A Grand View of Literary Sketchbooks in the Past Dynasties) and it is not know if Toriayama was familiar with her or not when creating the Kejoro.

More likely Toriyama was making some sort of commentary on the red light district, or playing word games with popular slang of the time. On the adjacent page to the Kejoro of the Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki is another prostitute-turned-yokai, the Aonyobu (青女房; Blue Wife). “Blue Wife” was a derogatory term for a woman who had contracted the kidney disease jinkyo (腎虚; renal ischemia), and it is possible that “Kejoro” was a similar insult that Toriyama turned into Yokai.

Warai Onna, The Laughing Woman

 

 

 

 Warai onna
The Laughing Woman.


Long ago, a samurai named Higuchi Kandayū ignored the villagers’ warnings and went hunting with his retainers on Mount Tōkō on the ninth day of the month. On the trail, a beautiful woman around seventeen or eighteen years old appeared before him. She pointed a finger and laughed at him. 

As she laughed, her voice grew higher, and louder, and fiercer. Soon it seemed to Kandayū that the entire mountain was laughing at him. The trees, the rocks, the rivers, and even the wind seemed to echo her laughter. Kandayū and his retainers fled in terror, and when they finally exited the mountains, his retainers all fainted. Although he escaped successfully, Kandayū was haunted by that laughter, which echoed in his ears until he died.





The  Warai onna or Laughing Woman is a Yokai that resides in the mountains of the island of Shikoku.

The legend of the Warai onna come's from the folklore of Kōchi Prefecture. 

 

They only appear in the mountains on certain days: the first, ninth, and seventeenth days of every month. Because of this, locals will warn others to stay out of the mountains on those days.

As far as appearances, she looks just like any other average young women in her late teens or very early twenty's.

Her laughter can be heard late into the night by travelers who find themselves in the mountains after sunset.


Those that dare to tread into her mountains take thire chances and hope for the best. Those unfortunate enough to meet a warai onna run thr rist of
permanent madness or even death.

She will smile and laugh at a person when they meet. 

However her laughter is infectious, and often causes those who see her to laugh along too.

 Though, even after she leaves, the people who laughed along with her will continue to do so, to the point of sever laughter leaving them rolling on the ground laughing until
they are out of breath and unable to even stand. These is followed by  a sever  fever which, after a few days, will kill the victims.


Even those who somehow resist laughing along with her are not safe. Just hearing her laughter is enough to induce psychosis.  

 

They begin to hear a mocking laughter. Those who survive an encounter are still doomed to hear her laughter everywhere for the rest of their lives.



There is a male equivalent to the warai onna , called the warai otoko. They behave exactly the same way as warai onna.

A kerakera onna (“cackling woman”) has almost the exact same features as warai onna, except she only appears in red light districts not the  mountains.

Japanese Myths : The Snow Bride

 

 

 

                             ❅❄💙The Snow Bride💙❄❅

Mosaku and his apprentice Minokichi journeyed to a forest, some short distance from their village. 

It was a bitterly cold night when they neared their destination, and saw in front of them a cold sweep of water. They desired to cross this river, but the ferryman had gone away, leaving his boat on the other side of the water, and as the weather was too inclement to admit of swimming across the river they were glad to take shelter in the ferryman's little hut.

Mosaku fell asleep almost immediately he entered this humble but welcome shelter. Minokichi, however, lay awake for a long time listening to the cry of the wind and the hiss of the snow as it was blown against the door.

Minokichi at last fell asleep, to be soon awakened by a shower of snow falling across his face. He found that the door had been blown open, and that standing in the room was a fair woman in dazzlingly white garments. For a moment she stood thus; then she bent over Mosaku, her breath coming forth like white smoke. After bending thus over the old man for a minute or two she turned to Minokichi and hovered over him. He tried to cry out, for the breath of this woman was like a freezing blast of wind. She told him that she had intended to treat him as she had done the old man at his side, but forbore on account of his youth and beauty. Threatening Minokichi with instant death if he dared to mention to anyone what he had seen, she suddenly vanished.

Then Minokichi called out to his beloved master, "Mosaku, Mosaku, wake! Something very terrible has happened!" But there was no reply. He touched the hand of his master in the dark, and found it was like a piece of ice. Mosaku was dead!

During the next winter, while Minokichi was returning home, he chanced to meet a pretty girl by the name of Yuki. She informed him that she was going to Yedo, where she desired to find a situation as a servant. Minokichi was charmed with this maiden, and he went so far as to ask if she were betrothed, and hearing that she was not, he took her to his own home, and in due time married her.

Yuki presented her husband with ten fine and handsome children, fairer of skin than average. When Minokichi's mother died, her last words were in praise of Yuki, and her eulogy was echoed by many of the country folk in the district.

One night, while Yuki was sewing, the light of a paper lamp shining upon her face, Minokichi recalled the extraordinary experience he had had in the ferryman's hut.

"Yuki," said he, "you remind me so much of a beautiful white woman I saw when I was eighteen years old. She killed my master with her ice-cold breath. I am sure she was some strange spirit, and yet tonight she seems to resemble you."

Yuki flung down her sewing. There was a horrible smile on her face as she bent close to her husband and shrieked, "It was I, Yuki-Onna, who came to you then, and silently killed your master! Oh, faithless wretch, you have broken your promise to keep the matter secret, and if it were not for our sleeping children I would kill you now! Remember, if they have aught to complain of at your hands I shall hear, I shall know, and on a night when the snow falls I will kill you!"

Then Yuki-Onna, the Lady of the Snow, changed into a white mist, and, shrieking and shuddering, passed through the smoke-hole, never to return again.

 ........

💙❄️👻👻❄️💙

Japanese Legends: Ibaraki doji ...Oni Woman..

 

 

 

 

Art link https://www.wallpaperflare.com/ibaraki-douji-fate-grand-order-fate-series-women-blonde-wallpaper-zblow

 

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 Ibaraki Doji is also know as the “thorn tree child”

She  is one of the most well known as well as one of the most feared demons in Japanese folklore.

She was the chief deputy to Shuten doji, the Oni King. Not very much is known about Ibaraki doji’s
life; Most stories depict Ibaraki doji as a kijo, or a female oni; yet there are other stories which refer to Shuten doji’s  deputy as a male so its really anybodys gyuess at this point(Im going to go with the female version of the story). 

Ibaraki doji was a cruel and   terrifying monster, bent of wreaking as much havoc in the human world as she could.
 

Some visions claim she was not only Shuten Dojis second in command but also his lover


Ibaraki doji’s most famous story takes place at Rashomon, the southern gate of old Kyotos city walls. Rashomon was built in 789, but after  the Heian period it fell into serious disrepair and became known as an unsavory place. It was overgrown and unkempt. Thieves and bandits hung out near it.

 It even served as a dumping point for unwanted babies, and a spot to dispose of murder victims. But the scariest part of its haunted reputation was the
 

                                                         Rashomon Gate replica

 

legend of Rashomon no oni — the demon of Rashomon.

 

After his celebrated victory over Shuten doji, the hero Minamoto no Yorimitsu returned triumphant to Kyoto. He was celebrating at his home with his  deputies — Sakata no Kintoki, Urabe no Suetake, Usui Sadamitsu, and Watanabe no Tsuna — when Fujiwara no Yasumasa, a noble, informed them that an oni was seen haunting Rashomon gate. Watanabe no Tsuna, having just returned from a great battle with Shuten doji’s clan, could not believe that there were any oni left, and single-handedly went out to investigate. He mounted his horse and went south.

                                           Watanabe Tsuna fighting the demon  at the Rashomon

When Tsuna arrived at the gate, a great howling wind broke out and his horse could travel no further. He dismounted and went on foot. Approaching the gate in the fierce gale, he noticed an enormous hand suddenly reach out of the dark to grab his helmet. Tsuna wasted no time, and swung his great katana around, severing the arm of an enormous demon: it was Ibaraki doji, coming to avenge the murder of Shuten doji. 

The injured demon ran away, leaving her arm behind, and Rashomon was no longer haunted.

Ibaraki doji later returned to Rashomon, looking for her arm. 

She disguised herself as Watanabe no Tsuna’s wetnurse, and was able to steal back her severed arm and escape, After that, her whereabouts were unknown. though for many years after, occasionally in some town or another, villagers would claim that they had seen Ibaraki doji from time to time

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Rashomon Gate was destroyed in the mid 1900's 

 

There is now a monument in its place too commemorate it...

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More Oni post's coming soon

Oni Myths, Shuten Doji the King of Oni.

 

 

Shuten Doji  was also called the “little drunkard”

He is considered among the most fearsome and evil yokai in all of Japanese folklore even among other Oni. 

However unlike most yokai, Shuten dōji was not born an oni. 

There are many stories about how he came to be, but most of them claim that he was originally a human boy who was born over a thousand years ago either in present-day Shiga or Toyama. 

His mother was a human woman and his father was the great dragon Yamata-no-Orochi. How he changed from boy to demon varies greatly from story to story, but the one popular version goes like this: There was a young boy who was supernaturally strong and abnormally intelligent for his age. 

Everyone around him constantly called him a demon child due to his incredible strength and wit, and he gradually became terribly anti-social and resentful of others. At age six, even his own mother abandoned him. Orphaned, he became an apprentice priest at Mt. Hiei in Kyoto. 

Naturally, he was the strongest and smartest of the young acolytes, and he grew resentful of them as well. He slacked off on his studies as a result and got into fights. He also fell into drinking, which was forbidden to monks; however he could out-drink anyone and everyone who was willing to sit down and drink against him. Because of his fondness for alcohol, he became known as Shuten dōji, “the little drunkard.”

One night there was a festival at the temple, and Shuten dōji showed up very drunk. He put on an oni mask and went around playing pranks on his fellow priests, jumping out from the darkness to scare them and such. At the end of the night, he tried to take off his mask but found he couldn’t — to his horror, it had fused to his body! Ashamed, scared, and scolded by his masters for being drunk, he fled into the mountains where he would no longer have to interact with other humans, whom he saw as weak, foolish, and hypocritical. He lived there on the outskirts of Kyoto for many years, stealing food and alcohol from villagers, and drinking vast quantities of alcohol. His banditry eventually attracted groups of thieves and criminals, who stuck with him loyally and became the foundation for his gang.

 

 

Living in exile, Shuten dōji grew in power and knowledge. He mastered strange, dark magic, and taught it to his thugs. He met another demon child like him, named Ibaraki dōji, who became his chief servant. Over time, the young man and his gang gradually transformed into oni, and eventually he had a whole clan of oni and yokai thugs who prowled the highways, terrorizing the people of Kyoto in a drunken rage. He and his gang eventually settled on Mount Ōe, where, in a dark castle, he plotted to conquer the capital and rule as emperor.

Shuten dōji and his gang rampaged through Kyoto, capturing noble virgins, drinking their blood and eating their organs raw. Finally, a band of heroes led by the legendary warrior Minamoto no Yorimitsu assaulted Shuten dōji’s palace, and with the help of some magical poison, were able to assault the oni band during a bout of heavy drinking. They cut off the drunken Shuten dōji’s head, but even after cutting it off, the head continued to bite at Minamoto no Yorimitsu.

Because the head belonged to an oni and was unholy, it was buried it outside of the city limits, at a mountain pass called Oinosaka. The cup and bottle of poison that Minamoto no Yorimitsu used are said to be kept at Nariai-ji temple in Kyoto.

 

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Modern Imagery

 

Shuten Doji From The Fate series

 

                                          https://www.artstation.com/artwork/GXPGqa

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                                           https://www.zerochan.net/3245251

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Japanese Legends: Momotaru, The Little Peach Boy.

 

 

                                 MOMOTARU: The Little Peach Boy.

 

Todays post will be a well known folkstory from Japan, Momotaro: The little peach boy.
There are a few different visions of this story that vary slightly from one region to the next.
The first  one is one of the more well know versions in modern time.

There is now a popular notion that Momotaro is a local hero of the Okayama Prefecture, however this claim is
relitivley new and was invented in the modern era, it is not accepted as fact in other rigions
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The tale of Momotaro has been handwritten and printed since the early Edo period leading into the Meiji era.

One significant change is that in most examples of Edo Period literature, Momotaro was not born from a peach, but born naturally
to the elderly couple who ate the peach and regained their youth. these  subtypes are classed as kaishun-gata or "rejuvenation" type,
whereas the now conventional subtypes are termed kasei-gata  "birth from the fruit" type.
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This is the offical Okayama version of the story.


Once upon a time there lived an old man an old woman in Okayama.

The old man went everyday into the mountains to cut wood, while his wife would go to the river to wash clothes.
One day, while the old woman was down at the river washing clothes, a big peach came floating down the river!
It looked so delicious, she decided to take it home for her and her husband to eat.

When the old man came back to their home, the old woman cut the peach open, and to their surprise, there was a small boy inside!

They decided to call him Momotaro, which means ‘peach boy’.

The old couple raised Momotaro to be big and strong.

One day, he decided to go and defeat the ogres living on Ogre Island that were pillaging the land.

The old woman fixed him some delicious millet dumplings, known as kibi-dango, for his long journey to the island.
On the way, a monkey, a dog, and a pheasant joined him, giving them a dumpling each in return for their help in fighting the ogres.


Once he  reached Ogre Island, Momotaro and his companions found that the gate was locked to the Ogre’s fort.

The pheasant flew inside, and grabbed a key to let the others in. Once inside, they fought the evil ogres.

The pheasant pecked their eyes, the dog bit their legs and the monkey jumped on their backs, clawing at the beasts.

Finally, the ogres cried for mercy! They gave the strong Momotaro all of their treasure, and he returned to his village triumphantly.
Momotaro and the old couple lived happily ever after.


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This next version was popularized during the Meiji Period and was even printed in school textbooks back then.

Momotaro was born from a giant peach, which was found floating down a river by an old, childless woman who was washing clothes there. 

The woman and her husband discovered the child when they tried to open the peach to eat it. The child explained that he had been bestowed by the Gods to be their son. The couple named him Momotaro, from momo (peach) and taro (eldest son in the family).

When he matured into adolescence, Momotaro left his parents to fight a band of Oni (demons or ogres) who marauded over their land, by seeking them  out in the distant island where they dwelled (a place called Onigashima or "Demon Island"). On his way there, Momotaro met and befriended a talking dog, monkey  and pheasant, who agreed to help him in his quest in exchange for a portion of his rations (kibi dango or "millet dumplings"). 

At the island, Momotaro  and his animal friends managed to break in to  the demons' fort and beat the band of demons forcing those who remained to  surrendering.

 Momotaro and his new friends returned home with the oni's ' stolen treasure and the demon chief as a captive.

 

 

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In an   old version of the story written in 1753 , an old woman who did not have any children brings home a giant peach floating in the stream.
 

When the old woman ate a portion of the peach, she unexpectedly recovered her beauty and youth. Her husband was surprised to find a young,  beautiful woman when he came back from work. He did not believe her when she explained that the magical peach restored her youth. He also ate a portion of the peach, and turned young too. A boy was born after they made passionate love that night. They named the boy ‘Taro’, which is a  common name for the first sons in Japan.

There are a few variants to the story, depending on geographical area, Some say Momotaro floated by in a box, a white peach, or a red peach. 

 

Stories from Shikoku and Chugoku region muddy the distinction with characters from other folk storys, in most versions a Monkey, dog and pheasant accompany  Momotaro to the oni island in other versions he befrinds  a bee ( hachi), a crab ( kani), a mill stone ( usu), a chestnut (kuri), and cow dung ( ushi no hun). In old days, all of these animals and objects were believed to possess spirits and could move by their own will. 

The cow dung was sometimes given the honorific dono. This was to appease the cow dung spirit, so as it won’t move to be under you when you stumble  or take a step.

There are different versions of  Momotaro’s  growth; one is that he grew up to meet the expectation of the old couple to a good man.
 

Another is that he grew up to be a strong but lazy person who just sleeps all day and does not do anything.

Today, Momotaro is one of the most well kown characters in Japan, as an ideal model for young kids for his kind-heartedness, bravery, power,  and care for his parents.

In some tales Momotaro is still in his teens in other virsions he is an adult.. Grown up Momotaro goes on journey to defeat the demons (oni) when he hears about the demons of the Onigashima (oni island).

In most stories Momotaro volunteered to go help the people by fighting off the oni, but in other stories he was forced by the townspeopleor others to go on journey.

However, regardless of the variants, the ending of the story is always the same.

All the stories describe Momotaro defeating the Oni and living happily ever after with the old couple.
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the oral version of the story may have emerged during the Muromachi period (1392–1573), it may not have been set down in writing until the Edo period (1603–1867).

The oldest printed works of Momotaro known to have existed had been dated to the Genroku era (1688–1704) or possibly a little earlier.

In most of the Edo Period books, peach boy is not born from the peach but from the woman who consumes the peach and grows several  years younger.


Momotaro is now heavily association with Okayama City or its prefecture, but this association was only created in the modern era. 

                                                Momotaro Statue in  Okayama.
 

The publication of a book by Nanba Kinnosuke entitled Momotaro no Shijitsu (1930) for example helped the notion of Momotaro's origins in Okayama  to gain wider familiarity.

 

Still, even as late as the antebellum period before World War II (1941–1945), Okayama was considered only the third contender behind two other regions  known as Momotaro's homeland.


The demon island (Onigashima) from the story is sometimes associated with Megijima Island, an island in the Seto Inland Sea near Takamatsu, due to the vast manmade caves found there.

                                                             Iki Island oni statue

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One of the earlyist English translations  was called (The Adventures of Little Peachling") by A.B. Mitford's Tales of Old Japan in 1871. William Elliot Griffis published a version in 1880, which remained obscure even to researchers, even though English translations in the following decades apparently borrowed from Griffis's phraseology and use of idiom, sometimes even copying his text outright.

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An Anime version loosely based on the Momotaro story is currently airing called "Peach Boy Riverside" it is also a Manga.

My next few post will be Oni related..

Monsters, cryptids and yokai: The Rusalka..

                                           
 Rusalka by daekazu on deviantart https://www.deviantart.com/daekazu/art/Rusalka-187551820
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The Russian Mermaid ...
She is as dangerous as she is beautiful 

Rusalka or Pusalka is commonly described as  a water nymph^..

The Rusalka is a female spirit in Russian / Slavic folklore and their  equivalent of a mermaid. though she has two leg's insted of a finned tail and in some versions can walk on land and even climb tree's..


She has different names in various cultures: rusalka (in East Slavic cultures) vila (Czech, Slovak), wiła (Polish).

According to most accounts the rusalki were a type of fish-women, who lived at the bottom of rivers and lake's.

In some legends she would leave her watery home late at night together with other Rusalki she would walk out to the bank and dance in meadows. If they saw handsome men, they would  enchant them with songs and dancing, mesmerize them, then lead them away to the river and to their inevitable  death.

                               

                                               Art by Anna Vinogradova Kransndar 1975
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A Rusalka most often  appears as a beautiful young women, she will site by the shore of a lake usually coming her hair or sometimes singing this is done as a means to lure in her prey..

In some version's she is a type of water spirit in other's she is a young woman that was ether murdered by her lover of  who committed suicide by drowning due to an unhappy marriage or who were violently drowned against their will (especially after becoming pregnant with unwanted children), and now  must live out their time on Earth as rusalki.

However,in some  Slavic versions  not all rusalki encounters were linked with death from water It is accounted by most stories that the soul  of a young woman who had died in or near a river or a lake would come back to haunt that waterway.

Though this version of a  rusalka is not invariably malevolent or evil, and would be allowed to rest in peace if her death is avenged.
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In some versions she has green sea week like hair....

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Her main purpose is, however, to lure young men, seduced by either her looks or her voice, (Similar  to a Siren or a Succubus)  into the depths of the waterways where she would entangle their feet with her long hair and submerge them. Her body would instantly become very slippery and not allow the victim to cling on to her in order to reach the surface.

                                           

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She would then wait until the victim had drowned, or, on some occasions, tickle them to death, as she laughed. 



 It is also believed, by a few accounts, that rusalki can change their appearance to match the tastes of men they are about to seduce  although a rusalka is generally considered to represent universal beauty, therefore is highly feared yet respected in Slavic culture.

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                                                Ivan Kramskoi, The Mermaids, 1871
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In some of the older stories the Rusalka was a symbol of fertility and not consider evil in the old pagan beliefes



 They came out of the water in the spring to transfer life-giving moisture to the fields and thus helped nurture the crops.



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Celebrations: Rusalka Week..
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The Rusalki  are believed to be at their most dangerous during the Rusalka Week in early June. At this time, they were supposed to have left their watery depths in order to swing on branches of birch and willow trees by night. Swimming during this week was strictly forbidden, lest these  mermaids would drag a swimmer down to the river bed.
                                             

                                                    

                                                       Rusalka by Ivan Bilibin - 1934
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A common feature of the celebration of Rusalnaya was the ritual banishment or burial of the rusalki at the end of the week, which remained as entertainment in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine until the 1930s


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Other mediums ..
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 The Rusalka trilogy of novels by C. J. Cherryh feature and revolve around a rusalka named Eveshka.

 Rusalka is an opera by Alexander Dargomyzhsky. - 1856

"Rusalka" is a poem by Mikhail Lermontoy 1831.


Nikolai Medtner's Third Piano Concerto is based on Mikhail Lermontov's ballad.

A Rusalkas is the main character in "The Surface Breaks", a YA novel and retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" by Louise O'Neill.

 Rusalkas appear as monsters in the Action Role playing game The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing.


 "The Last Wish " by Andrzej Sapkowski, a Polish novel from the Witcher series, in which Geralt briefly encounters a Rusalka that has fallen in love with a cursed man.

 "Fatima Rusalka", a single by alternative metal band Alesana  ..

There are many many other examples of Rusalka in modern media  bedside's the one's i mentioned here.. :)
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Monster's, Cryptid's and Yokai: The Jorogumo

 

 

 Today we talk about
Spider Woman....

aka  the Jorogumo..

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The Jouogumo is a Japanese spider yôkai  that can change its appearance into that of a attractive young woman in order  to lure in her prey, human men.

However even when she's in her human form her reflection will still show a giant spider.

She is immune to all kinds of poison and aside from shapeshifting is believed to have other magic ability's as-well...

The  Nephila Clavata, Or Golden Orb Weaver is  a real kind of spider and can get quit large.

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Stories of this lethal eight legged yokai can be traced as far back as the edo Period.

The name Jorogumo when written with kanji mean's “entangling bride.” though these characters were later added to her name  to change it from the original meaning: “whore spider.”


 
According to the myth, a beautiful woman would entice a man into a secluded shack of private room at an inn, she would then  begin to play a Biwa, a type of Japanese lute this was just a destruction.

While her soon to be victim was focused on the sound of the instrument, she would bind him in spider silk threads in order to devour the unsuspecting person as her next meal.
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The Orb Weaver spider is considered to be the spider form of this yokai.

According to most legends, when a spider turns 400 years old, it gains magical or supernatural powers.

Famous Edo period stories can be found in  "Taihei-Hyakumonogatari" and "Tonoigusa".

                                                   
In many of these accounts the Jorogumo changes its appearance into that of a beautiful young woman and would ask a samurai to marry her,
in other versions she will take the form of a young woman carrying a baby (which may turn out to be a spider's eggsack).

Drawings, like the one in Toriyama Sekien's book Gazu Hyakki Yako, depicts Jorogumo as a half-woman/half-spider surrounded by her spider children. 

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The jorogumo is the most well-known of the spider yokai.

They can be found all over the Japan, except for Hokkaido.

The golden orb weaver's body size averages between two to three centimeters long, though they can grow far larger as they age; some are so big  they can catch and eat small birds.

These spiders are well known for their large size, eye catching colors and the large sturdy webs they weave.

                             

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Her favorite prey is young men.

When a jorogumo sets her sights on a man she desires, she will invite him into her home, he is usually never seen again.
 

They can spin silk threads strong enough to trap a grown man and keep him in place.

She also has a strong venom that can slowly weaken a man day by day, allowing her to prolong her victims inevitable death  so she can savor his suffering.

In some versions she is believed to have the ability to control other, lesser spiders, even using magic fire-breathing spiders to burn down the homes of anyone
that grow suspicious of her.

If she is careful enough a  jorogumo can operate in secret  like this for years without detection, even in the middle of a busy city,  while the skeletons of hundreds of men eventually build up in her home/ nest.

They usually make their nests in old caves, forests, or empty abandon homes and buildings.

Jorogumo are highly intelligence but also very cold hearted , she see's humans as no more valuable then common insects only there to feed on.

They are powerful shapeshifters and usually spend  their lives in the form of a young attractive women.
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Jorogumo also appear in various manga and anime..

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                                                         Kirue ITOSHIGE - Yokai Girls Manga

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                                               Monster Musume/ Monster Girls Encyclopedia

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                                                  Jorōgumo from  Rosario + Vampire
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                                               Jorōgumo in NURARIHYON NO MAGO

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alright that's all for now, next post will be up soon. :)