K... *cough* >.> I'm writing a book based heavily on the youkai of Japan (heavily meaning there's only one human character in it) the main characters are the various spider demons, jyrogumo, onigumo, etc... the problem is I don't recall the name of the male variant of the jyrogumo. My mind keeps saying 'kumogumo,' but I'm not sure that's correct. I know it was featured in the previous youkaimura library before it mysteriously vanished, could someone maybe help me?

Maybe you're talking about the Kumo-otoko? Additionally, I think kumo and gumo are same Japanese words for a spider. By the way, good luck to your book!

I will look through my binder of notes Tuesday or Thursday... that's the soonest I can get to my binders.

It would be much appreciated.

And thank you ^^

Tsuchigumo, maybe? And the female version is actually called jorogumo (or jyorogumo).

I wasn't able to look for that particular binder (or any!) when I was where those notes were stored. Some rather bad matters come up there that needed attending. Hopefully next week I will be able to look for them without someone needing me. Tsuchigumo I do remember being one, as NakagawaRyou mentions.

Tsuchigumo I remember being a name given to one of the people (as in group, not person) that was chased northward also. Ground spider if I remember, those that lived in caves or pit houses I think it was? I wish I could remember more and had the time to look through the books that I do have here in my apartment.

I think I saw a spider of a supernatural nature this morning... not sure which one of them it fell under, but it was all black, probably at least a six inch or so leg span and crawled into the shadows and vanished. I could tell that it was not material in nature as it seemed to not be solid and resembled the shadows into which it went. Saw it briefly after waking up from a nightmare of sorts.

Falcon, your spider may actually be a shadow creature, or "sending" or something. maybe even a manifestation of the nightmare itself.

Wow, ghost spiders! I saw lots of spiders in the forest of Miyajma (Japan), and they were all big and coloured (black, green, red and yellow, I think), quiet in the middle of their cobweb. Our japanese friends said that they're not dangerous, but they look like they were taking care of the forest.

Look at this: http://picasaweb.google.com/annarostri/ ... 3559933714
http://picasaweb.google.com/annarostri/ ... 6464424690

Not very good pics (bad camera), but you can imagine how did we feel, surrounded by enormous spiders... Maybe they are just normal spiders, but I had a supernatural feeling in that forest. I think that it's one of the most magical places in Japan.

That's just the way Miyajima is, I think, for lack of a better discription XD. The shrines had a similar feeling, but I didn't see the spiders while I was there (and I would have noticed - I'm scared to death of them XD).
I should really go visit again while I'm here, but I probably can't go to Hiroshima during the semester and my Golden Week is all planned out already... ^^;.

Thanks for sharing the pictures, Sacher.