Home › Glossary › Letter J

Jorogumo

Folklore
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A Japanese spider-yokai that shapeshifts into a beautiful woman to ensnare and devour men, embodying feminine treachery and entrapment.

Detailed Definition
Jorogumo in poetry represents the fear of female sexuality as both alluring and annihilating. She appears in East Asian-inspired verse as a metaphor for obsession, the collapse of reason before desire, and the monstrous potential within beauty.
Example
Example in poetry:
Jorogumo; A Japanese-inspired haiku sequence: “Silk threads weave her laughter— / eight legs dance on moonlit paper— / bride of the spider’s loom”;
Additional Notes
Jorogumo is a Japanese spider-yokai that shapeshifts into a beautiful woman to ensnare and devour men, embodying feminine treachery and the horror of entanglement. In folklore, she represents the fear of female sexuality as consumption. In poetry, she is a metaphor for toxic relationships, the suffocation of desire, or the collapse of identity under obsession. Her eight legs echo the web of fate—ideal for poems on control, illusion, and the price of beauty.
Also Known As
Jorōgumo Spider Woman
Skip to main content