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](/glossary/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](/glossary/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](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) experimentation.