Twelve tattoos - Scarlet peony

The peony (botan) holds a central place in Japanese tattoo iconography, frequently paired with shishi (lions), butterflies, or carp. Its dense ruffled blooms allowed horishi (tattoo masters) and woodblock carvers alike to demonstrate command over volumetric form. As a scarlet peony, this print would emphasize saturated reds — historically achieved with safflower-derived beni or, in twentieth-century production, aniline reds — printed in successive impressions to build depth. The peony reads as a symbol of wealth, masculine bravery, and abundance, and serves as an adaptable design element in irezumi composition. From a production standpoint, peonies challenge the carver to register multiple petal layers without flattening them; bokashi shading from petal base toward edge is standard, and a separate block for stamen detail is common. Within the Twelve tattoos series, the appearance of multiple peony entries (a butterfly-and-peony print also exists) signals the flower's centrality to the iconographic system. Shusui's choice of subject aligns with the broader twentieth-century interest in preserving traditional decorative idioms for a print-collecting audience rather than pursuing self-published sosaku-hanga experimentation.