Deck Review: The Botan Tarot

The Botan Tarot by Addi Miyako is just super beautiful, really dreamy and soft, like falling into a bed of petals. I was really lucky to come across a reasonably priced secondhand copy, as at the time the deck OOP. The artist has now launched a second edition which you can (pre)order here (UK) as well as some other online stores (please check the artist’s webpage for authorised stocklists).

The Deck: Look, Feel, and Finish

The deck comes in a simple but stunning deep purple slipcase/shell and slide box, and the cards are then further held by a lovely peach ribbon. My one tiny quibble with the box is that the slide opening is at the ‘bottom’, so if you display your Tarot decks by standing them up vertically (so you can see the front designs) it means if you’re absent-minded like me, when you go to pick it up everything comes flying out – d’oh! For this reason if I ever designed a Tarot deck with a shell and slide box (which I do like, design-wise), I’d put the slide opening at the ‘top’.

The cards are my dream cardstock – matt finish, but quite a glossy matt (if that makes sense), thick without being unmanageable to shuffle, gorgeous indigo blue edges. A real delight to handle, and the back design is lush.

The Botan Tarot comes with a simple mini guide, but I really recommend also getting the accompanying zine, which explains the stories behind the art choice in much more detail, as well as containing stunning large size colour renditions of the card artwork.

Greatest Hits: My Favourite Cards from the Botan Tarot

It’s very hard to pick my favourites ’cause LOOK HOW DREAMY THE WHOLE DAMN DECK IS 😍

The artwork on this beautiful Sun card, with her firework flower earring, is just stunning. There’s a radiant beauty to her, but also a sense of mental clarity. The composition makes it feel like her thoughts are shining outwards, bursting from her head in a dazzling cluster of sunbeams.

Love the idea of the energy and movement of the Eight of Wands as a shooting star, and, again, the art is to die for. It captures that sense of momentum and urgency perfectly. In traditional readings, this card is often linked to messages or news travelling fast, and the image of a comet streaking across the sky ties beautifully into that. Throughout history, comets have been seen as harbingers of great events: omens of change, upheaval, or revelation. Here, that celestial energy is channelled into forward motion, signalling that something big is on its way.

My love of a Hanged Man that incorporates some of the joy of surrender and a flipped world view is well documented, and this card really delivers. Miyako writes about how creating the illustration was in itself a bit of a “Hanged Man” moment: “I felt stuck… because I started to get too caught up in sticking with traditional designs… Letting go of control helped me create a design that I was quite pleased with”.

The idea of the Emperor as a falconer is a great one, and the art really captures the wisdom and also the weight of responsibility inherent in this card. The falcon isn’t just regal, it’s a keen-eyed hunter with a great sense of perspective and fiercely protective of its own. As Jen Cownie and Fiona Lensvelt put it in Wild Card, the falcon becomes “the symbol of forces and people that shelter us and protect us, and under whose wings we feel safe.”

In Japanese tradition, falconry (takagari) was more than just sport. It was a complex and highly skilled practice involving not only the hunt itself, but also the careful raising, training, and stewardship of the birds and their territories. It’s a fitting metaphor for the Emperor’s role: strategic, disciplined, and rooted in a sense of duty to protect and provide.

The Magician’s traditional symbols as tattoos is genius. He’s not just holding the tools – he is the tools. They’re etched into his very skin, a part of who he is. It suggests mastery so complete that the boundary between self and skill has dissolved. He doesn’t just use the elements of transformation, he’s transfigured himself into their living embodiment.

Miyako writes about how the Tower is a very personal and emotional card for her, as she’s chosen to represent it with a drawing of a tower from the Japanese internment camp at Topaz where her grandma was held during WWII, even while her grandad fought for the US as part of the 442nd Infantry Regiment. She writes, “the guard tower is empty, a symbol of powerless fear, abandoned but left standing as a reminder. Flowers reclaim the structure, just as I reclaim my family’s story to be a vehicle for a more just future”. It’s a powerful reimagining of the Tower’s meaning, making it less about sudden destruction, and more about reckoning, remembrance, and renewal.

The depiction of kintsugi on the bowl in the Ace of Cups is perfection. The artist observes, “one is never too broken to be capable of giving and receiving love”. The cracks don’t diminish the cup’s beauty or purpose; they enhance it. This is a vessel shaped by experience, still open, still receptive.

A stunning Hierophant (High Priest) card. Traditionally associated with the sign of Taurus, the Hierophant shares the bull’s groundedness, strength, and connection to ritual and tradition.

Tanuki the shapeshifter is perfect as the Page of Wands. This Page is all about exploration, experimentation, and the thrill of possibility – and who better to embody that than the mischievous, ever-transforming tanuki? In Japanese folklore, the tanuki is a trickster spirit known for playful deception: transforming into humans, drumming its belly to spook travellers, and generally causing low-stakes chaos for its own amusement. As the Page of Wands, tanuki reminds us that play, identity, and reinvention are all part of the creative journey

Adorable teamwork in the Three of Pents (coins)! This card is all about collaboration and the power of working together, and the real-life relationship between langur monkeys and chital deer captures this beautifully. The langurs pluck and drop green leaves and fruits from the treetops, which the deer gratefully eat. In return, the deer – more attuned to sounds and scents on the ground – alert the langurs to approaching predators. It’s a striking example of mutual benefit: two entirely different species, each with their own strengths, working in quiet partnership. Like the Three of Pentacles, it reminds us that successful teamwork doesn’t require sameness, but thrives when each member contributes their unique skills toward a shared goal.

Deck Interview with the Botan Tarot

1. Tell me about yourself? What is your most important characteristic as a deck?

Ten of Coins: This deck is full of wisdom and established knowledge it is eager to pass down to me to ensure my longterm success

2. What are your strengths as a deck?

Strength: Teaching me acceptance and mastery of my emotions. Letting go of fear.

3. What are your limits as a deck?

Two of Wands: This deck is not so good for strategic planning

4. What do you require from me in return? How can I best collaborate with you?

Page of Coins: I’ve got to prepared to put the work in and accept that gains will be slow but steady

5. What is the potential quality of our relationship?

The Moon: Leading me off the path more travelled by, illuminating the dark spaces in my psyche

6. In what space / with what type of query will you best communicate?

Queen of Coins: Actually, this indicates to me this would be a good deck to use for reading for others. It wants to help me to help other people, it is a warm, empathetic deck.

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When the second edtion comes out, my advice would be to snap this beautiful deck up ASAP!

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