B.C. 662. The year Tsuchi no to Hitsuji, Spring, 2nd month, 20th day. The Emperor commanded his generals to exercise the troops. At this time there were Tsuchi-gumo[1] in three places, viz.:—The Tohe[2] of Nihiki at Tada no Oka-zaki[3] in the district of Sofu, the Kose Hofuri at Wani no Saka-moto,[4] and the Wi-Hofuri[5] at Hosomi no Nagara no Oka-zaki. All of these,
- ↑ The Tsuchi-gumo are mentioned in four or five passages of the "Nihongi" and one passage of the "Kojiki," all of which belong to the highly legendary period of Japanese history. We gather from them that the Tsuchi-gumo were usually, though not invariably, outlaws who defied the Imperial authority. They had Japanese names, and inhabited such long-settled parts of Japan as Yamato, Harima, and even Kiushiu. There is nothing, if we put aside the mention of Yemishi at p. 124, to suggest that they were not of Japanese race. The "short bodies," etc., of the "Nihongi" description I take to be nothing more than a product of the popular imagination working on the hint contained in the name Tsuchi-gumo, which is literally "earth spider." Some etymologists prefer the derivation which connects kumo (or gumo) with komori, to hide, thus making tsuchi-gumo the "earth-hiders." But this is probably a distinction without a difference, these two words containing the same root, and the animal which we call the spider, i.e. spinner, being in Japan termed the "hider," an epithet of which no one who has observed its habits will dispute the appropriateness. An ancient Japanese book says Tsuchi-gumo is a mere nickname, to be compared therefore with our clod-hopper or bog-trotter.
In one of the passages above referred to, the Tsuchi-gumo are described as inhabiting a rock-cave, but in others they are said to live in muro or pit-dwellings, and this is obviously the origin of the name.
There are several notices of Tsuchi-gumo in the ancient "Fudoki," or "County Histories," but they are probably mere echoes of the older legends related in the "Nihongi" and "Kojiki," and in any case they add nothing of importance to our information about them. It may be noted, however, that Hiuga and Higo are mentioned in them as habitats of bands of these outlaws.
An amusing expansion by a modern writer of the spider conception of the Tsuchi-gumo will be found at p. 140 of Anderson's B.M. Catalogue. See also Ch. K., p. 141, and Index.
A little work called "Kek-kio-kō," in a collection entitled "Haku-butsu-sō-sho," published by the Japanese Imperial Museum, has brought together all the available information respecting Muro and Tsuchi-gumo.
- ↑ Chiefs.
- ↑ Oka-zaki means hill-spur, and is perhaps to be so understood here, and not as a proper name.
- ↑ Saka-moto (acclivity bottom) may be also a description and not a proper name.
- ↑ Hofuri is a kind of Shintō priest. It is unlikely that persons not of Japanese race should be so called.
