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F Botan, Toshozan Satsuma

Description

This Satsuma button was created in 1985 by Toshozan (橋本陶正山) of Kagoshima, Japan.

Toshozan is featured in 2025 July issue of the Button Aerogramme.
Click here to view other Toshozan buttons in the In-Depth Study page.

Materials
- 2-0 CERAMICS
Designs
- PICTORIALS (17-21)
- 19-0 PLANTS

Background/Story

This Satsuma button features a tree peony—a flower long admired in Chinese culture as a symbol of honor, wealth, and nobility.
In Japan, this flower is the symbol of youthful female beauty. It also carries a delightful linguistic twist: the word for tree peony is botan (牡丹 / ぼたん)—which is pronounced exactly the same as botan, the word for buttons (ボタン).

So, this botan is quite literally a botan on a botan. Pun intended.