Peony Lantern

The Peony Lantern is the work of the master storyteller Sanyutei Encho and achieved almost legendary fame in 19th-century Japan. When the story was published as a book in 1884, based on a shorthand record of the master's narration, it immediately became a bestseller. Its success was aided by the fact that, even in book form, it retains the specific, lively atmosphere of an orally transmitted story.