Meet Your Living Room Falcon (Patreon)

[Trigger Warning: Spiders. But absolutely harmless and cute ones!]

Jumping spiders are called haetorigumo (ハエトリグモ) or fly catching spider in Japanese and they are absolutely, heart-meltingly adorable.

Hi~!

In Japan in the warmer months, they live alongside you in your house and depending on the environment there can be none to dozens. Every house I've ever lived in, has had them and it's always been 100% no big deal. 

While what are called iegumo (house spiders) and huntsmen spiders squick me out (I just had a literal run in with the latter that nearly stopped my heart, it chased me!), haetori spiders are super kawaii and only want to eat all the tiny bad vermin that you have living in your carpets and on your walls.

After almost four years, it was just this past summer I started really noticing them here. Now we have anywhere from 6 to 12 living in various rooms. The only one who has a name so far is Timmy the Toilet Spider (Richard named him during a particularly exciting run in with the little guy). That said, Timmy graduated from Toilet Spider and now hangs out in the living room and sometimes the kitchen.

Below is Timmy. He's TINY. This is his arrival when he finally ventured from the bathroom to the bigger world of LDK (living/dining/kitchen). My desk is in the corner of the living room where he hangs out a lot. But I also noticed he seems to be (?) following me around for the past couple weeks. He's everywhere that I am. 

He's hilarious, too, and will suddenly pop out from nowhere and land on my computer screen to chase the curser or if I'm trying to read on the couch, he'll jump into my field of vision: Tada! Here I am!

Below is a close up. He let me take it.

Raise your furry feelers and say, "Cheese!"

So I decided to look up haetorigumo and I found some interesting things.First, as far back as the 900s in something called the Wamyō Ruijushō (Compilations of Japanese Names) they were considered a "venerable insects with an illustrious history."

But their real time to shine was in the Edo Era when they became part of a popular hobby called Zashiki Taka / 座敷鷹 or parlor room falcon. Common folk couldn't participate in falconry. But that didn't stop them from having some fun.

Somehow it became a thing to find jumping spiders and keep them as a pets. Then at certain times, they'd gather with others who had their own spiders to play a game called Zashiki Taka (座敷鷹) or Parlor Room Falcon.

They'd gather in a circle on the floor and someone would put down a fly that had its wings just slightly trimmed so it couldn't actually fly. The rule was that the first spider to tackle the fly wins. So all at the same time, everyone playing would release their own pet jumping spiders and let the hunt begin!

Also, let the betting begin! Because it seemed to be a big betting game, too.

Originally, the wee little arachnids were kept in small bamboo tubes, but the game became so popular -- and I'm guessing lucrative -- that expensive lacquered containers with fancy designs began being used to house their little buddies.

Below is an old drawing of some jumping spider abodes.

Next, naturally, spider merchants appeared on the scene. A whole business sprung up and they were hunted, traded, and bought. Everyone looking for a strongest, farthest leaping competitor. Some are said to cost up to an entire month's wages.

There were even specialists who trained such spiders. How that was done I don't know. But talk about finding your niche in the job market.

There are even accounts of wandering samurai who went around acquiring good haetorigumo. Theyse were called honkusa (true grass) or haeko (fly tiger, because some had stripes like a tiger).

Haetorigumo are all over Japan, and depending on where they are found they come in all sorts of sizes and colors and markings. I even found a handbook on identifying them. Although a quite glance tells me one of those is an ant, isn't it? Okay, maybe it's to show how small they are. Because they literally are that tiny.

Anyway, this was today's rabbit hole. An adorable one at that.

No I won't be training Timmy for any fly catching competitions. Even though his cursor chasing skills are top notch. I've discovered a much bigger and darker colored haetorigumo also above my desk and my suspicions are it's female. We'll see what happens!

((o(^∇^)o))

Less than a week until Hokkaido!

XO,

t

P.S. Adding, the other day Timmy started dancing elaborately for the Lady Spider and she was having none of that and chased his butt away. Today I woke up to find and even tinier spider on my computer. Sooo cute. So maybe Timmy and Lady (and by extension, ME) are proud parents!