Daily mythical creature 66: the Joro-Gumo [Japanese mythology]!

(image source: yokai.fandom.com, I couldn’t find the original artist but his signature is in the bottom)

What’s cooler than a giant man-eating spider woman? A giant man-eating spider woman keeping several smaller fire-breathing spider monsters on leashes!

Originating from Japanese folklore, which has some seriously wacky stuff, the Joro-Gumo can take the form of an attractive young woman. One story tells how she approached a young soldier with a baby in her arms. She claimed that the baby was his, but the soldier saw through her plot and drew his sword. He injured the woman and she fled. Later, a horrible monster was found dead, having died from its wounds. It resembled a huge spider and the soldier recognized the wounds as the ones he had inflicted on the woman. Surrounding the spider lay numerous human corpses that the monster had killed.

(Image source: the Gazu Hyakki Yagyo by Toriyama Sekien, 18th century. Note the fire-breathing spiders on leashes)

Monstrous spiders and spider-women play a relatively large role in Japanese folklore. A similar tale tells of the hero Yorimitsu who meets a beautiful woman in a cavern, but realizes the monster’s true nature when he notices that her shadow is that of a giant spider. The tales have a dark historical basis: in earlier Japanese stories and artworks, tribes of giant spiders were allegories for villages or tribes who refused to submit to the emperor. Therefore, the tales of heroic generals who stopped at nothing to reduce these monstrous villages to rubble actually have their roots in oppression of the native people.

Another tale of the Joro-Gumo claims that she would play a flute to distract men while she trapped them in a cocoon of spider silk to be eaten. They are also known to keep fire-breathing spiders as pets, as mentioned above. These are used to burn down the homes of people who grow suspicious of the Yoro-Gumo.
They are not always evil, however. There are tales of Joro-Gumo saving people from drowning by pulling them onto land with threads of spider silk.