The Game of 100 Candles

byPaola Cantatore, Toru Terada (Illustrator), Katherine Gregor (Translator)

Chilling stories from Japanese folklore

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Brought to you by Penguin.

A must-have for anyone fascinated by the darker side of Japanese folklore.

Are you ready to play The Game of 100 Candles?

Beneath the global fascination with manga and anime lies a shadowy realm teeming with Japan's yokai monsters, mutants, and vengeful mononoke spirits. These eerie entities have gripped imaginations with their terrifying allure since the Edo period, weaving a dark tapestry of folklore that continues to captivate and haunt to this day.

In The Game of 100 Candles, 99 uncanny tales, known as 'kaidan', await to reveal the dark side of Japanese folklore. Discover a world of bizarre entities, animate objects, shapeshifters, and spectral hybrids that inspired modern art forms like kabuki theatre, Pokémon, J-Horror, and the monsters of Murakami Takashi.

Step inside The Game of 100 Candles, but beware, this test of samurai courage may bring about an even greater horror.

© Paola Cantatore 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

About Paola Cantatore

Paola Cantatore studied languages at the University of Naples and at Ca’ Foscari, Venice, specializing in Japanese. At twenty-three she moved to Tokyo to perfect her language skills
and complete her studies. She works as a translator, editor and copywriter, and teaches at the Department of Foreign languages at the University of Ferrara.
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