Bride of Dragon Master II

Bride of Dragon Master II continues a thematic series in which Asahi pairs human female figures with the dragon-mastering beings of her invented mythology. The numeral indicates a return visit to the subject, common in her practice where motifs recur across multiple plates. Etching provides the linear definition for hair, drapery, and any reptilian scaling, while aquatint establishes broad tonal fields — typically a graduated dark ground against which lighter passages emerge through stop-out work or selective burnishing. The image likely centers on a single isolated female figure rather than a narrative scene, reflecting Asahi's preference for iconic, frontal compositions. Within her wider output, the dragon-master cycle is one of several recurring relationships — alongside monster-bird tamers and women who weave the sea — that populate a closed mythological system she has consistently described as entirely fictional, drawing on the visual vocabulary of Japanese folklore without illustrating any specific tale.