[5] The traditional alternative format in East Asian paintings is the vertical hanging scroll, which is rarely as long.

According to the National Palace Museum in Taipei, the handscroll format originated with ancient Chinese text documents.

Japanese horizontal picture scrolls are called emakimono (or emaki), and more often cover narrative subjects than their Chinese equivalents.

[7] A handscroll has a backing of protective and decorative silk (包首) usually bearing a small title label (題簽) on it.

[6] In Chinese art, the handscroll usually consists of a frontispiece (引首) at the beginning (right side), the artwork (畫心) itself in the middle, and a colophon section (拖尾) at the end for various inscriptions.