I’ve seen suggestions that this specific branch of hard light might be DNA activated and injected into a person through the tattoo. Makes sense considering the Shimada clan was powerful enough to afford something like this and that Hanzo’s dragons come from his tattoo. It also fits the idea that it’s something only a Shimada can do.
I’m a little sceptical anyway because the dragon shape is still not as extraordinary or unique to be seen as exclusively Shimada technology. Vishkar builds cities out of light; I’m sure they could manage a dragon. But it’s as good as an explanation we can get currently without more information.
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I’m on team chi… either that or Hanzo is a Pokemon Grand Master 
I found these speculations interesting:
There’s no scientific explanation for the dragons tbh. If it was hard light then they wouldn’t call them “dragons”. It would just be hard light that they chose to make look like dragons.
I don’t have any official answer just guessed but maybe it’s one of those gameplay mechanics that aren’t technically canon in-universe.
like zenyatta’s orbs aren’t a canon thing he does, they’re just there as something to do in the game
But they use their dragons in their animated short 
To me, it’s magic until there is some scientific explanation ^^
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https://www.online-station.net/pc-console-game/view/104033
(article is in Thai, translation by Google)
In the world of Overwatch, we see the cutting-edge evolution of the science that is used by the heroes as a fighting force. We wondered so much about Hanzo 's death as Dragonstrike, who released two dragons. Is it magic or what ?
Michael Chu & Renaud Galand : (laughs) It’s not magic.
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I’d therorize that it’s the same nano-tattoos that Sombra has that she uses to hack.
Notice how Hanzo’s tat always glows when he uses his ultimate?
Nano tattoos? Do you mean her gloves?
She has a full back tat that runs through her upper torso into her hands that’s implanted with nano-tech.
It’s explained in a comic, if I remember correctly.
EDIT:
Found it.
It’s in the origin video. @0:52, it’s an implant, as well as a head tattoo.
I remember it specifically because Hammeh brought it up in one of his videos when he was talking about Searching.
Her augmentations? I think they are geared towards her stealth and hack, I don’t think she could produce anything with literal damage like the dragons, just images and stuff.
Honestly we are no closer to figuring out what they are then at the start.
It might be nano-tech tattoos for Hanzo, but it does not explain why Genji can imbue his weapon with his own dragon considering that the arm he uses to unsheathe his katana is widely thought to to amputated, taking into the account that both summon their respective dragons through their weapon
The power of orientalism.
Maybe it’s closely guarded tech that no one else has?
And dragons is actually some sort of acronym…
Dispersed Radiant Armament-Guidance Over Narration.
That’d explain all the shouting, too.
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Oh good, there is an explicit source saying that Dragonstrike is not magic. Thanks for this.
The most likely technological example I can come up with is that the Shimada tattoos are some kind of nano-fibrous electrical circuit - used to transfer & transform chemical energy from the body into light & heat energy that can then be released in a condensed form (i.e. dragons).
You could argue that in-world this literally drains their stamina so as to limit their usage of such techniques & also to play into the theme & concept of chi’i that this technology would have culturally developed from.
In this example, Hanzo fires his dragon forms as a projectile, delivering heat energy to his opponents over time; while Genji surrounds his blade with heat energy in order to amplify the damage of his individual strikes.
This could even be some kind of precursor/parallel to “hard-light” manipulation; with the principles of forming the light-heat energy into dragon shapes for combat being re-purposed when using hard-light in order to give the energy a stable form for infrastructure etc.
You could also argue that “only a Shimada can control the dragons” is due to either the tech only being possessed by the Shimada or some kind of DNA-locking functionality that only allows those with Shimada genes the ability to control & manipulate said technology.
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The password to run shimadadragon01.exe is “guest”
The password to run shimadadragon02.exe is “iN33dH341iNgLULz”
These passwords are known only to the descendants of the Shimada clan.
Which explains why they can’t use ults when hacked.
Now what would REALLY be cool is if Sombra could force enemy Hanzo or Genji to ult their own team!
Lol I’m imagining Talon capturing one of the bros and Sanjay trying to figure how to get the dragons to work but they just bite him or something.
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I can imagine if Sombra hacked the spirit dragon, Hanzo will shoot out a spirit chicken instead.
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