"Hundred Ghost Stories" refers to the Edo-period popular recreation of telling ghost stories in the dark with one hundred lit candles. Ghost stories were told one by one. After each story, one candle was blown out. When the last candle was blown out, something mysterious was to occur. This thrilling recreation became popular at a time when there was little lighting. With the game becoming more widespread, Katsushika Hokusai, an ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, produced many nishiki-e colored woodblock prints titled One Hundred Ghost Stories.
Hokusai's One Hundred Ghost Stories series became popular as merchandise, depicted on money envelopes and votive slips. However, few of his nishiki-e prints survive, and only five are currently known. Yokai and ghost stories became popular among the commoners, and many ukiyo-e artists aside from Hokusai began to use them as subjects, further refining yokai prints.