A Shin Buddhist priest who was at one time head of a Kyoto temple, he is held to be one of the finest writers of Kanazōshi.
Asai Ryōi's work in particular turned traditional Buddhist teaching on its head in an expression of urban ideals.
The hero of the piece, Ukiyobō, is a Buddhist priest who learns enough from a life of debauchery, gambling and general pleasure-seeking to gain enlightenment under the later guidance of his elders.
For example, in "The Peony Lantern", the original tale's protagonist dies horribly as a result of giving in to sexual pleasure with the spirit of a dead girl - the moral message is the need to accept impermanence and not be consumed by worldly desires.
The stories in Otogi Bōko fulfilled a thirst for supernatural tales and expressed the dichotomy between social obligations, or giri, and the reality of the human experience.