Emaki is an horizontal, illustrated narrative form whose origins date back to the Heian Period in Japan . It combines both text and pictures and is drawn or painted or stamped on a hand scroll. It can be considered as one of the early forms of sequential art, along with Egyptian hieroglyphics, European stained glass windows of medieval times and some pre-Columbian Central American manuscripts.

An emaki is read by unrolling a scroll with one hand and rolling it back with another hand at the same time, moving from right to left. In this way only a portion of the narrative is viewed at a time. It is expected that the person viewing the scroll will re-roll the scroll back in its original form, much as one is supposed to rewind [[video tape] after viewing it. The emaki scroll is bound by a cord and stored alone or with other scrolls in a dedicated box, which is sometimes decorated with intricate patterns.

The most famous emaki is the illustrated Tale of Genji. It was based on a novel written sometimes around the year 1000 by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady-in-waiting to the Empress Akiko. The art form developed in the 10th century under the influence of the hand scrolls that came with the introduction of Buddhism and other cultural elements in the 6th century.