Peony Flower

It was a very quiet day today at Immortal Tattoos. Everyone seems to be busy shopping due to the festive season around the corner. So, I carried on doing my own things around the shop, basically lazing around.

Just then, I had a lovely lady walk in today, wanting a Peony on her hip. She wanted to have it in black and grey but I talked her out of it and have it coloured instead.

The Peony is a flower with a history of cultivation and veneration that goes back thousands of years. In Japan and China, the peony is a floral symbol with meaning on par with the Chrysanthemum, the Lotus and the Cherry Blossom The Peony is regarded as a symbol of wealth.

As a tattoo design, the peony symbolizes wealth, prosperity, and good fortune. According to Japanese tattooing tradition, peonies also symbolize daring, risk taking and the gambler's or Samurai's devil-may-care approach to life. A gambler's next bet may be his last, a true Samurai according to the Code of Bushido, or The Way of the Warrior, lives each day as if it may be his last.

The peony is a potent symbol of beauty, of the fragility and fleeting nature of existence and the knowledge that acquiring great rewards comes only by taking great risks.