It was mentioned in old books such as "Inu hariko" (literally, The Toy Dog), "Shoko-ki" (a collection of ghost stories originated in Tang China), "Mimibukuro" (literally, Ear bag), and "Tonoigusa" (literally, Night watchman's storybook), while in "Tsuchigumo no soshi" (Tale of the ground spider) and "Heike Monogatari" (literally, The tale of the Heike) it is known as Tsuchigumo (literally, ground spider).
『狗張子』『諸皐記』『耳嚢』『宿直草』などの古書に記述があり、『土蜘蛛草子』『平家物語』では土蜘蛛として知られる。