Peony Hat (Botan-gasa), from the series Beauties Matched with Flowers (Bijin hana kurabe)

From the series Bijin hana kurabe (Beauties Matched with Flowers), this print pairs a standing or seated bijin with the peony (botan), one of the most auspicious flowers in East Asian visual culture. The title Botan-gasa (Peony Hat) suggests the woman wears or carries a broad-brimmed hat decorated with or associated with peony imagery, a poetic conceit linking her appearance to the flower's opulent, layered form. Series that matched beauties to flowers were a well-established genre, allowing artists to exploit both the decorative appeal of women's kimono and the coloristic possibilities of flower subjects within a single composition. Gekko's treatment would emphasize the visual rhyme between the peony's full petals and the rounded forms of the kimono's patterned fabric, printed with careful bokashi gradations in the blossom areas.