Basket of Peonies

Katsushika Hokusai • 1810

Basket of Peonies, 1810

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A <em>surimono</em> is a privately commissioned print used to announce or commemorate a special event. This picture celebrates an event in the life of the actor Ichikawa Danjuro VII, whose emblem was the peony. According to Japanese tradition, the peony–one of the flowers of the four seasons–is the flower of summer.