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Botanical · Chinese / Japanese / Universal

Peach Tattoo Meaning

Immortality, longevity, fortune, and the peach of ten thousand years.

The peach is the fruit of immortality and long life — the sacred fruit of the Chinese Garden of Immortality whose taste grants eternal life, the magical fruit from which Japan's great hero was born, the soft, fragrant fruit with a stone-hard heart, an emblem of longevity, blessing, and fortune. To carry the peach is to carry immortality, longevity, and fortune — the peach of ten thousand years, the fruit of the immortals and of blessing, soft and sweet without yet iron-hard at the core, the emblem of long life and good fortune.

In Chinese tradition the peach (táo) is the foremost fruit of immortality and the most beloved symbol of long life and blessing. The peaches of immortality grow in the fabled Peach Garden tended by Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the West — magical peaches that ripen only once in thousands of years, and whose fruit grants eternal life to those who eat them. To partake of these divine peaches is to gain immortality; they are served at the great banquets of the immortals.

Because of this association, the peach became the supreme Chinese symbol of longevity, long life, and blessing. The peach (and depictions of it) is a birthday symbol, given and displayed to wish long life; a longevity symbol, often shown with the god of longevity, Shou; a symbol used at weddings and celebrations; and altogether the fruit most associated with blessing and good fortune. To give or depict a peach is to wish someone long life and blessing. The peach of immortality is the great Chinese emblem of eternal life, longevity, and the blessing of long years. The Chinese peach is the peach of immortality — the foremost fruit of immortality and beloved symbol of long life and blessing, the magical peaches that ripen once in thousands of years in the Peach Garden tended by Xiwangmu (Queen Mother of the West), whose fruit grants eternal life and is served at the banquets of the immortals, making the peach the supreme Chinese symbol of longevity and blessing — a birthday and longevity symbol (shown with the longevity-god Shou), used at weddings and celebrations, the fruit most associated with blessing and good fortune, given to wish long life.

The peach (Prunus persica) originated in China — despite its scientific name suggesting Persia, it was cultivated in China at least 7,500 years ago and traveled west along the Silk Road. In Chinese tradition, peaches appear on birthday cakes and birthday scrolls as symbols of longevity — the peach-shaped longevity bun (shòu táo bāo) is one of the most recognizable Chinese pastry forms. Xiwangmu's Peach Garden (Yaochi) and her peaches of immortality appear throughout Chinese literature — Sun Wukong's theft of the peaches in Journey to the West is one of the most famous episodes in Chinese fiction. The Momotarō story is the most widely known Japanese folk tale — versions of it appear in virtually every Japanese elementary school curriculum. The Japanese word momo means peach, and tarō is the most common Japanese boy's name, making the name mean simply 'Peach Boy.'

Peach across cultures

chinese
The peach (táo) is the primary fruit of immortality in Chinese tradition — Xiwangmu (Queen Mother of the West) tends the Peach Garden of Immortality, whose fruit grants eternal life; the peach is a birthday symbol, a longevity symbol, a wedding symbol, the fruit most associated with blessing
japanese
Momotarō — the Peach Boy — was born from a giant peach that floated down the river; he grew to be the greatest hero of Japan, defeating the oni on Onigashima Island with companions he gathered on the journey
universal
The fruit of the long life — soft enough to seem fragile, fragrant enough to announce its presence, with a seed so hard it is almost stone; the contradiction of the peach is the same as the contradiction of the long life: sweet on the outside, iron in the center
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