In Tonoigusa ( Night Watchman’s Storybook), a young warrior encounters a beautiful woman. There are several stories based on the jorogumo. When the spider reaches 400 years old, she will transform into a jorogumo and start preying on humans. The jorogumo legend is based on the real golden-orb weaver spider, which is found all around Japan. They feed on young men who fall for their tricks-trapping them in their webs and devouring them slowly. Translated to English, jorogumo ( 絡新婦) means “woman-spider.” However, the kanji can also mean “entangling bride” or “whore spider.” They are cunning and appear as seductive young women. Then again, they might make for a good drinking buddy. Maybe don’t visit any temples, izakaya or other places likely to have lanterns if you don’t want to run into one. This comes from the ancient Shinto religious belief that all objects-even inanimate ones-have a soul. Thus, a regular lantern may turn into chochin-obake after 100 years of use. Tsukumogami are tools or objects which become yokai after 100 years. However, tsukumogami (tool spirit ), do appear in Japanese mythology. One theory is that he was invented simply to scare children. So there is no origin for this particular yokai. The chochin-obake does not appear in any of Japan’s mythical stories or legends, and only appears in ukiyo-e and kabuki plays. The chochin-obake (paper lantern ghost) will flick its large tongue out, roll its eyes and laugh loudly to frighten passers-by. This lantern ghost isn’t malicious like other yokai-he’s just a naughty little trickster who enjoys giving humans a scare.
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