“Ryu sho ten” or “Ryu shoten” (Dragon rising to the heavens), also known as “Gekko Zuihitsu” (Gekko’s Sketch), a Ukiyo-e print from Ogata Gekko’s Views of Mt. Fuji. A dragon rises out of smoke near Mt. Fuji, ascending towards the sky. (From Wikipedia)
Japanese dragons are diverse legendary creatures in Japanese mythology and folklore. Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China, Korea and India. Like these other Asian dragons, most Japanese ones are water deities associated with rainfall and bodies of water, and are typically depicted as large, wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet. The modern Japanese language has numerous “dragon” words, including indigenous tatsu from Old Japanese ta-tu, Sino-Japanese ryū or ryō 竜 from Chinese lóng 龍, nāga ナーガ from Sanskrit nāga, and doragon ドラゴン from English dragon. (from Wikipedia)
