The Play - Tsuchigumo (Earth Spider)

Source: The Noh.com website http://www.the-noh.com/en/plays/data/program_002.html
The servant Kochō comes bringing prescribed medicine to Minamoto no Raikō, who is ill in bed.  However, his illness becomes more and more serious.

Deep in the night after Kochō leaves, an unknown monk visits the bedridden Raikō and inquires about his condition. Suspicious, Raikō asks the name of the monk, and the monk approaches Raikō reciting a poem in the Kokin-shū, "my love will visit me tonight, because a spider…"  Looking closely, Raikō finds that it is a monstrous spider. Although the spider spins out thousands of silk threads to tie Raikō up, from his pillow side Raikō takes the great sword Hiza-maru, which has been passed down within the Genji clan. When he draws the sword and cuts the monster, the spider monk disappears instantly.

Hitorimusha, a warrior who serves Raikō, hears the commotion and rushes to Raikō's room with many of his followers.  Raikō tells about the event and announces that he will change the name of the great hereditary sword from Hiza-maru to Kumokiri (Spider Slasher).  Then Raikō tells Hitorimusha to exterminate the monstrous spider as he could not give it a death blow.

Hitorimusha and other servants follow the blood spots of the monstrous ground spider to an old mound, which seems to be the nest of the spider.  The ground spider appears when they demolish the mound.  The ground spider gives them trouble with its silk threads.  However, Hitorimusha's entourage encircle it in strength and finally slay it. 

Author: Unknown. 

Source: A Guide to No, P.G. O'Neill, Hinoki Shoten, 1929, p. 198-199.

Characters:

Act 1:

Tsure - Minomoto no Yorimitsu (Raikō)

Tsure - his swordbearer

Tsure - Kochō, a serving-woman

Shite - a priest

Waki - the warrior Hitori-musha 

Kyōgen - a messenger

Act 2:

Waki - Hitori-musha

Waki-tsure - his men

Nochi-shite - a ground-spider

After the serving-woman has brought the sick Minamoto no Yorimitsu some medicine, a spider comes to him in the guise of a priest.  But when it begins to enmesh Yorimitsu in the threads of a web, he realizes that it is some evil creature and manages to slash it with his sword.  At this it vanishes but Hitori-musha, alarmed by his master's cries, hurries to the scene and after hearing what has taken place, determines to hunt out the creature.  He and his men track it down by following the trail of blood to a cave and there they destroy the spider that has been the cause of Yorimitsu's illness.

The Series - Fifty Noh Figures in Color

Each print in the series depicts a main character from a Noh play and is tipped to the top edge of a solid-colored woodblock-printed backing sheet featuring the three small pines appearing along the higashigakari  橋掛 (bridgeway) stretching from the main stage to the kagami-no-ma (mirror room) where the performers gather before going on stage. The trees are printed with a dark gold metallic pigment, a deluxe printing technique.

一  翁 No. 1 Okina	二 高砂 No. 2 Takasago	三 田村 No. 3 Tamura	四 羽衣 No. 4 Hagoromo	五 鞍馬天狗 No. 5 Kurama tengu	六 竹生島 No. 6 Chikubushima	七 景淸 No. 7 Kagekiyo	八 態野 No. 8 Yuya	九 通小町 No. 9 Kayo Komachi	十 鵜飼 No. 10 Ukai
十一 玉井 No. 11 Tamanoi	十二 俊寬 No. 12 Shunkan	十三 卒都婆小 No. 13 Sotoba Komachi	十四 鐵輪 No. 14 Kanawa	十五 船辨慶 No. 15 Funda Benkei	十六 養老 No. 16 Yōrō	十七 賴政 No. 17 Yorimasa	十八 遊行柳 No. 18 Yugyō yanagi	十九 石橋 No. 19 Shakkyō	二〇 石橋 No. 20 Shakkyō
二一 張良 No. 21 Chōryō	二二 蟬丸 No. 22 Semimaru	二三 姨捨 No. 23 Obasute	二四 安達原  No. 24 Adachi ga hara	二五 調伏會我 No. 25 Chōbuku Soga	二六 延命冠者 No. 26 Enmei kanja	二七 箙 No. 27 Ebira	二八 胡蝶 No. 28 Kochō	二九 求塚 No. 29 Motomezuka	三〇 雷電 No. 30 Raiden
三一 難波  No. 31 Naniwa	三二 花月 No. 32 Kagetsu	三三 葵上 No. 33 Aoi no ue	三四 弱法帥 No. 34 Yoroboshi	三五 殺生石 No. 35 Sesshōseki	三六 鍾馗 No. 36 Shōki	三七 經政 No. 37 Tsunemasa	三八 道成寺 No. 38 Dōjōji	三九 藤戶 No. 39 Fujito	四〇 鵺 No. 40 Nue
四一 項羽 No. 41 Kōu	四二 融 No. 42 Tōru	四三 玉葛 No. 43 Tamakazura	四四 山姥 No. 44 Yamanba	四五 土蜘蛛 No. 45 Tsuchigomo	四六 金札 No. 46 Kinsatsu	四七 熊坂 No. 47 Kumasaka	四八 三井寺  No. 48 Miidera	四九 一角仙人 No. 49 Ikkaku Sennin	五〇 猩々 No. 50 Shōjō

Print Details

IHL Catalog	#2183
Title	Tsuchigumo 土蜘蛛 (Earth Spider)
Series	Fifty Noh Figures in Color  能姿五十彩
Artist	Matsuno Sōfū (1899-1963)
Signature	not signed
Seal	Sō 奏 seal
Date	June 1938
Edition	first and only
Publisher	謡曲界発行所 Yōkyoku-kai hakkōsho [Noh song publishing house]
Carver	unknown
Printer	unknown
Impression	excellent
Colors	excellent
Condition	excellent
Genre	nishiki-e; nōgaku zue 能樂圖繪 [Noh play picture] or 能絵 [Noh-e]
Miscellaneous
Format	oban
H x W Paper	print: 8 x 5 13/16 in. (20.3 x 14.6 cm)  backing sheet: 12 1/16 x 9 5/16 in. (30.5 x 23.7)
H x W Image	print: 7 13/16 x 5 5/8 in. (19.7 x 14.4 cm)
Collections This Print	Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University AcNo. arcUP2641
Reference Literature

last update:

11/15/2019 created