Japanese illustrated text, or narrative picture scroll. The makimono, or horizontal hand-scroll, format was used, and most often the text and illustrations appear on the same scroll.

The earliest extant example of emaki was painted in 735. Among the most famous emaki is the Genji monogatari (Tale of Genji, The) emaki (“Illustrated Tale of Genji”), painted in the late 11th and early 12th centuries and preserved in the Tokugawa Reimeikai Foundation and the Gotō Art Museum, both in Tokyo.