yamamba,jorogumo and oiwa

1- THE SECRET OF THE YAMAMBA

the yamamba looks like a harmless old women, but are actually terrifying mountain yokai that consume human flesh . one of their oldest legends is from konjaku monogotari:

Once upon a time, a Buddhist priest was caught out in a storm but luckily passed by a lonely hut. A kind old woman invited him inside, welcoming with food and a warm fire.

As welcoming she was, she gave the priest a strange warning ."no matter what, do not look in the back room .

unable to overcome his curiosity , the priest failed to heed the old women's warning . As soon as she stepped out to gather more firewood, the priest peeped through a crack in the door. To his horror, he discovered the room filled with half- eaten corpses. The priest realized that the old woman was a yamamba, luring unsuspecting travelers into her home only to shred them to pieces for her next meal. He fled from the hut as fast as he could and never looked back.

Meanings

1) yokai- a strange supernatural creature from Japanese folktale

2) heed- pay attention to

3) consume- eat, drink or ingest

2- THE LEGEND OF THE JOROGUMO

the jorogumo is a half-woman, half-spider yokai that can transform itself into a beautiful woman when hunting for unsuspecting men to devour!

A young samurai was accosted in the street by an alluringly gorgeous woman,

. Although she was beautiful, the samurai saw through her disguise, realizing she was not a human but some type of yokai. He immediately drew his sword and plunged it towards her, but only injuring the strange woman before she quickly retreated. The samurai followed the scarlet trail of spotted blood, abandoned house . Inside, he found dozens of bodies bound in spider silk, and a giant joro spider, dead from the injuries it had received.

meanings

1) devour - eat hungrily and quickly

2) alluringly - in an attractive or excited way

3) plunged- jump or dive quickly or energetically

4) scarlet - of a brilliant red colour

3- THE TALE OF OIWA

not all scary stories are made up- the tale of oiwa is based on a real event that took place in 17th century edo:

oiwa was stunningly beautiful young woman who was married to the samurai lemon, a petty man who only loved her for her head- turning looks. Another woman, Oume, was madly in love with the lemon and out of her jealousy rage, into using a cream that was laced with poison. It disfigured oiwas face , causing one of her eyes to droop and her hair to fall out, without her even noticing . Disguised with her new appearance , lemon wished to divorce oiwa and marry oume. The despicable samurai hired his friend takuetsu to rape oiwa , so that he would have the grounds for divorce . Takuetsu was so shocked by oiwas appearance , he couldn't follow through with the orders. Instead he told oiwa lemons plan, and showed oiwa her own face in the mirror. Seeing her deformed face for the first time, oiwa was so horrified that she stole takuetsu sword, killing herself . With her last breath, she cursed lemons name. On the night of lemons remarriage to oume, the ghost of the disfigured oiwa appeared before him. A terrified and guilty lemon quickly fled from oiwa, but no matter how far he ran, he couldn't escape her hauntings, after that night, no matter where lemon looked- even in the very lanterns he used to light his path he would see oiwa's face staring at him

meanings

1) droop - bend or hang down wards limply

2) deformed- a person or part of body not having normal or natural shape

end

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