Peonies

Botan, the tree peony, blooms in late spring and early summer and has a long history in East Asian painting and woodblock printing, traditionally given the epithet "king of flowers." A print of this subject would generally focus on one or two large blossoms with their characteristic ruffled petals and dark green serrated leaves, set against a quiet ground that allows the colour to carry the composition. Achieving the layered tonal range of the petals—deep crimson at the heart shading to pale pink at the edges—calls for careful bokashi and multiple impressions registered on the same key block. As a kacho-e within Kotozuka's largely landscape-focused catalog, the peony print extends the Kyoto temple and garden idiom into the floral repertoire commonly issued by shin-hanga publishers as standalone sheets, often acquired for seasonal display in the tokonoma alcove.