Tsuchigumo (Noh)

Tsuchigumo is a Noh play.^[1] More specifically, it is classified as a genzai Noh (現在能),^[1] a relatively realistic work featuring human characters and taking place in a linear time line. It is a gobanme-mono (五番目物),^[1] meaning that the Nihyakujū-ban Utai Mokuroku (二百拾番謡目録) indicates that its author is unknown.^[1] In the modern era, it is part of the repertoires of all five of the major schools of Noh (五流現行曲).^[1]

The story takes place in the Heian period of Japanese history, depicting a popular hero of that era—specifically the late 10th and early 11th centuries—taking down a monstrous spider, but the play itself dates to the significantly later Muromachi period (14th–16th centuries).^[2]

The story is derived from Heike Tsuruginomaki.^[1]

• Minamoto no Raikō (tsure)^[1]
• Kochō the Handmaiden (tsure)^[1]
• A yōkai in the form of a monk (mae-shite)^[1]
• A lone warrior (waki)^[1]
• The tsuchigumo spirit (nochi-shite)^[1]

The famed general Minamoto no Yorimitsu, also known as Raikō, is suffering from an illness of the body and mind, and is resting at his mansion. A handmaiden, Kochō (胡蝶, "Butterfly"), arrives with medicine from the court physician, and after comforting the general, she takes her leave. Raikō's sickness grows ever worse, when a malicious spirit, or yōkai, who has taken the form of a Buddhist monk, appears, and casts a large amount of spider webbing onto Raikō. Raikō, despite his illness, reaches for the well-renowned sword beside his pillow and cuts into the monster. At this point, the monster disappears.^[1]

Hearing the noise, a solitary warrior rushes to the scene. Following the blood that has spilled from the yōkai, the young warrior eventually comes to an old gravesite. A tsuchigumo, or "earth-spider", spirit appears before him, and sprays him with vast quantities of webbing, causing him tremendous pain, but he ultimately wins out and strikes the spider down.^[1]