I Had Never Heard Of Hitofude Ryuu,

the Japanese art of painting dragons with a single brush stroke,

it seems scarcely possible that it can be done but the Sumie painters of Kousyuuya Studio in Nikko, Japan, can do just that, the delicate technique is known as ‘hitofude ryuu’, which literally means ‘dragon with one stroke’, and it’s been around for four generations, watching these painters create a perfect dragon, with all the shades and scales, in just a couple of seconds is a true delight, it all looks so effortless, but there’s a lot of hard work and practise involved in getting the stroke right, to create a single dragon painting, the Sumie artists first make the ornate head with various flourishes, using a smaller brush, then, they dip a much larger sumie brush into the desired paint colour and simply swipe it across the canvas in one swift movement, 

you really have to watch a video to realise the brilliance of the technique, the master painters seem to be making a single, long stroke, but if you watch closely, there are actually tiny, almost undetectable hand movements which result in the staggered design, this makes the body of the dragon come alive, appearing to writhe across the canvas, so here is one, enjoy.