# Descending dragon

**Katsushika Hokusai** (Japanese, 1760–1849)  
1760-1849  
Ink and tint on silk  
H x W (image): 78.8 × 16.4 cm (31 × 6 7/16 in)

Courtesy of the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, F1904.189. [The museum's record](https://asia.si.edu/object/F1904.189/).

## About this work

Katsushika Hokusai painted this in 1760-1849. It is now at the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, DC.

### How it was made

- **Ink and colour on silk.** Silk was sized with glue and alum so it would hold a crisp brushline, and mineral colours were built up in thin layers. The sheen of the weave still shows through.

### [Katsushika Hokusai](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/katsushika-hokusai)

Japanese, 1760–1849

Hokusai trained in the studio of the actor-portraitist Katsukawa Shunshō and went on to work under more than thirty names across a career of some seventy years. Alongside book illustration, paintings and the sketch volumes known as Hokusai Manga, he made landscape a leading subject of ukiyo-e with Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, issued around 1830–33, in which the mountain appears from city, coast and countryside, often in the newly imported Prussian blue.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: Japanese
- Real size: about 31 × 6½ in (79 × 16 cm). The 20 × 30 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 18th century
- Subjects: Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Dragon, Kakemono
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1777.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1777/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108; 30 × 40 in $148
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258; 30 × 40 in $338
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148; 24 × 36 in $178; 30 × 40 in $228
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5; 30 × 40 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/descending-dragon-si-fsg-f1904-189).