Asai Ryoi was a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist monk and writer of the early Edo period. He left many kanazoshi, popular books written in the kana script.
His collection of supernatural tales Otogi Boko, published in 1666, adapts Chinese supernatural fiction into Japanese settings and greatly influenced later ghost-story literature. It includes the tale of the shichihoda, a venomous snake whose bite kills before you can walk seven steps, and the story that became the basis of “Botan Doro,” linked with the hone-onna.
