Explore the vast range of titles available.

Tsuchigumo sōshi is a fascinating otogizōshi story of a haunted house full of strange creatures that extols the prowess of Minamoto no Raikō (or Yorimitsu, 948-1021), recounting how he vanquished a gigantic earth spider. Although spiders appear in ancient Japanese texts, this picture scroll is the oldest extant work in which a spider is portrayed as a supernatural creature. I speculate that the spider's transformation to an evil, uncanny creature is due to its association with an ont (demon, ogre). During the early modern period, the earth spider was notorious in literature and theatrical performance as a shape-shifting killer. The Nihon shoki and the \"Swords chapter\" of Heike monogatari are widely recognized sources for an influential Noh play, Tsuchigumo, which is rightfully cited as a work that greatly influenced later tsuchigumo literature and performance. I believe Tsuchigumo sōshi should be regarded as a source for the Noh play and for the emergence of an image of tsuchigumo as a killer shape-shifter. A complete translation of Tsuchigumo sōshi accompanies this article.

Every country has its own repository of art forms, but whether it takes pride and interest in preserving them, re-understanding the contexts of their production, or even has the means to constantly exhibit them worldwide is another matter. In Afghanistan and places that are situated on the western portions of the Silk Road, we hear of stories such as the one describing how colossal and cliff-sized sculptures of Buddha were destroyed and damaged due to warfare and religious reasons. In Japan, so far, despite the heated arguments about “datsu –A–,” many of the imported art forms from Asia, particularly those