Description
A beautiful 78-card tarot deck featuring lush and whimsical watercolor illustrations, inspired by Art Nouveau and Japanese folklore, finished with beautiful Japanese indigo edging or, for the limited edition Akane version, red edging and a red box.
Created by Addi Miyako.
“Botan” in Japanese means “peony”, which is the flower prominently featured on the back design of the tarot deck as well as on several cards. In Japanese flower language, peonies represent bravery. Botan is also a play on the word “botanical”, as I use Japanese flower language and other plant imagery throughout the deck.
Lastly, Botan is a tribute to the space and memory in which I painted this deck – there is an old-fashioned Japanese candy called Botan Rice Candy, which I remember my grandmother giving to me as a child. The deck was painted entirely in the dining room of my grandmother’s home, and the Minor Arcana specifically draws inspiration from the Japanese children’s stories that she used to read to me.
Within this deck, you will find both the 22-card Major Arcana (painted in 2017) and the 56-card Minor Arcana (painted in 2019). Â The Major Arcana is contemporary in design, with influences from Art Nouveau, Japanese flower language, and my family history. The Minor Arcana uses the same aesthetic, with folktale characters reimagined, symbolism in elements, plants, and animals, and cohesive color stories.
njcatchpole (verified owner) –
This deck is beautiful. I’m so glad I bought it. The artwork is stunning, I love the linen card stock with the matte indigo edges, and the guidebook, while offering only keyword interpretations, has full-colour reproductions of each card.
One thing for buyers to note: some of the Major Arcana shown in the pictures have been replaced with updated versions. For what it’s worth, I prefer the new ones without exception. You can look forward to meeting:
* A slightly zoomed-out High Priestess in a much more detailed costume, holding scissors
* An older Empress with a basket of rice (the standalone artwork shown in the pictures rather than the one in the first Major Arcana grid)
* A significantly zoomed-out, more gentle-looking Emperor who is wearing a falconry glove and caressing the bird’s beak
* A zoomed-out Hierophant holding a brush and scroll
* A Star, the first of three celestial goddesses, overlooking a rocky environment that has just summitted by a silhouetted traveller
* A Moon who leans over a hill to dip her fingers in the waters of an inlet that reflects her crown
* A Sun who rises out of the mists above a pine forest
mxaddisonevans (verified owner) –
This deck was a huge step for me in re-engaging with my intuitive and creative self. The art aesthetic is one that as non binary and trans masculine expressive person I can relate easily to within the binary nature of the face cards, which isn’t something that is usual with most ‘human’ decks.
What I find most engaging as a reader is the the nurturing feel of the deck. That doesn’t mean being sugar coated. For instance; The Tower, at first appearance, seems to be an overgrown, abandoned, hut on stilts. None of the drama of explosively dismantled structures, and yet this is a very personal depiction of a watchtower from an internment camp for Japanese-Americans held in the U.S during the Second World War. It’s the power of the dramatic events that change people’s lives forever done from a later perspective, after the dust has settled but the memory very much remains. Miyako’s approach to the design interpretation is definitely the most positive with encouragement and hopefulness I’ve read, which makes it the perfect deck for a readings when struggling with the world from a mental health point of view.