Shinjo Ogiwara

Please note: This article is about the character in the Tale of the Peony Lantern. For other uses of the term, please see Ogiwara (disambiguation).
Shinjo Ogiwara was a character in the Tale of the Peony Lantern, one of the most popular stories collected in the Hyakumonogatari Kaidenkai, a comprehensive monogatari of popular Kwaidan. Book of Void, pp. 129-130
== Tale ==
Ogiwara was a samurai near retirement who had lost his family and estate, was considered seppuku on the night of the Bon Festival. He eventually met a beautiful geisha, Suyu, and her servant, who carried a peony lantern marked with names. Ogiwara was smitten with Suyu, and she corresponded. Suyu and her maid visited him each night at dusk, fleeing with the dawn. One day a neighbor who had noted the strange occurrences and spied him, told Ogiwara that moonlight revealed both women to be skeletons. Iuchi priests warded the outside of his home, barring the women from entry. Suyu cried out in lament for her lover, who eventually allowed both woman entrance. The following morning, the neighbor found Ogiwara dead in a ruined temple, a peony lantern at its door, his corpse alongside the skeleton of a woman. Book of Void, p. 130
Character Shinjo Ogiwara