Jorōgumo
Also called Jorogumo, Jyorogumo, Binding Bride.
In Japanese folklore, the Jorōgumo is a spider yokai that can shapeshift into a beautiful woman to lure travelers close before binding and devouring them.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Japanese folklore
- Region
- Japan (sighted there)
- Trait family
- The Water-Beckoners
- Symbols
- Spider
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Spider is image-domain The spider denotes the weaver at the centre of its own made world, patient trap and creating grandmother alike, spinning what catches and connects.
why
In Japanese folklore, the Jorōgumo is a spider yokai that can shapeshift into a beautiful woman to lure travelers close before binding and devouring them.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Behaviour
- Transforms human to seduce
why
In most tellings, a Jorōgumo is a spider of great age, sometimes several hundred years old, that gains the power to take the form of a beautiful woman.
- Silk binding of prey
why
In this guise she is often described drawing a traveler into her home or into a cave, sometimes by playing a biwa or otherwise offering hospitality, before entangling the victim in strands of spider silk strong enough to bind them in place.
- Hospitality then entrapment
why
In this guise she is often described drawing a traveler into her home or into a cave, sometimes by playing a biwa or otherwise offering hospitality, before entangling the victim in strands of spider silk strong enough to bind them in place.
- Bound to specific body of water
why
Across variant accounts, the Jorōgumo is consistently tied to water and secluded, quiet places such as waterfalls, old buildings, or forest pools, and her victims are typically depicted as solitary men who wander too close to her hidden domain.
Offensive powers
- Silk binding
why
before entangling the victim in strands of spider silk strong enough to bind them in place
Utility powers
- Shapeshifting
why
In most tellings, a Jorōgumo is a spider of great age, sometimes several hundred years old, that gains the power to take the form of a beautiful woman.
Curses
- Seductive charm
why
In most tellings, a Jorōgumo is a spider of great age, sometimes several hundred years old, that gains the power to take the form of a beautiful woman. In this guise she is often described drawing a traveler into her home or into a cave, sometimes by playing a biwa or otherwise offering hospitality, before entangling the victim in strands of spider silk strong enough to bind them in place.