Published as a stenography narrated and created by the rakugo artist San'yūtei Enchō and written with the aid of both Sakai Shōzō (酒井昇造) and Wakabayashi Kanzō (若林玵蔵).
Kaidan Botan Dōrō is inspired by the Chinese influenced Botan dōrō, a story in which a young man falls in love with the spirit of a beautiful young woman.
This adds a new story to the Botan dōrō myth and develops the relationships with the main characters.
Written in a vernacular Japanese, Kaidan Botan Dōrō is one of the first books written in the unified language or Ichitai genbun, a free speech style resembling the spoken language of the time (Meiji era).
O-Kuni is finally faced with Kōsuke and Tomozō is arrested for his wife's murder.