Don’t miss future episodes of Monstrum, subscribe! Ararchnophobics beware—this shapeshifting female spider monster from Japan might be your worst nightmare. A type of yōkai, or any weird or supernatural creature or phenomena in Japanese folklore, this supernatural creature is both beautiful and deadly. Although able to appear as a beautiful young woman, the jorōgumo is really a deadly spider monster in disguise. But why is this monster exclusively female?
This episode dives into the fascinating world of yōkai and the long history of beautiful women and spiders in Japanese folklore. You’ll learn about the real-world spider that may have inspired this monster, and discover two of the oldest recorded jorōgumo stories in existence. #jorogumo #yokai #folklore #MonstrumPBS
Without the translations provided by author and scholar Zack Davisson, this episode would have been far less interesting; we are in your debt, thank you. Special thanks also goes to Dr. Michael Dylan Foster, University of California, Davis for allowing me to pick his brain about Japanese folklore, and to
Dr. Junya Fukuoka, MD for his help with trying to improve my Japanese pronunciation.
Written and Hosted by: Emily Zarka
Director: David Schulte
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Producer: Stephanie Noone
Illustrator: Samuel Allen
Editors: Derek Borsheim and Sara Roma
Produced by Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios.
The world is full of monsters, myths, and legends and Monstrum isn’t afraid to take a closer look. The show, hosted by Emily Zarka, Ph.D., takes us on a journey to discover a new monster in each new episode. Monstrum looks at humans' unique drive to create and shape monster mythology through oral storytelling, literature, and film and digs deep into the history of those mythologies.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Como, Michael. Weaving and Binding: Immigrant Gods and Female Immortals in Ancient Japan. University of Hawaii Press, 2009.
Drake, Nadia. “Asian ‘Fortune-Teller’ Spider Found in U.S. for First Time.” National Geographic, March 19, 2015.
Foster, Michael Dylan. The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore. University of California Press, 2015.
“How Magoroku Was Deceivef by a Jorogumo.” Taihei Monogatari. Trans. Zack Davisson, 2020.
Meyer, Matthew. “Jorōgumo.” Yokai.com, 2020:
Reider, Noriko. Seven Demon Stories from Medieval Japan. Utah State University Press, 2016.
Sekien, Toriyama. Japandemonium Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Seiken. Ed. Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt. Dover Publications, 2016.
Silva, Mallary A. “Women in Ancient Japan: From Matriarchal Antiquity to Acquiescent Confinement.” Inquiries Journal, vol. 2, no. 09, 2010.
"Things Ought to be Pondered, Even in Urgent Times.” Tonoigusa. Trans. Zack Davisson, 2020.
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