The most spectacular mid-summer flower in Japan was the tree peony, originally imported from China as a medicinal plant. (The tree peony is the official national flower of modern China.) By the Edo period, when htis print was made, peonies had been cultivated in Japan for almost a thousand years and were greatly admired for their blossoms. Peonies frequently appeared in textile designs and accessories such as this printed fan, intended to be cut out and pasted to a bamboo framework.

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