Great SpiderGreat Spider of Mountain and Wilds

A tradition-grounded composite of spider apparitions said to gain occult power through great age, lurking in mountain passes, temple rafters, and caves. Appearances range from an ordinary spider grown enormous, to a hairy arm extending from the ceiling, to an old woman in human guise. Avoiding notice, it moves by night, saps vital energy, and binds victims with silk. In slaying tales it often retreats after its limbs are severed by blades, or reveals its true form and is later found as a corpse. Names and lairs vary; reports surface sporadically in local curiosities and essays. Though terms like yamagumo and tsuchigumo sometimes overlap, here it refers broadly to eldritch old spiders.

This yokai is included in the following collections:

Colossal Yokai

A curated look at Japan’s colossal yokai—Gashadokuro, Umibozu, Daidarabocchi—and their overwhelming, mythic scale.

テーマ別

巨大な妖怪大きい妖怪

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