Emaki (literally, "picture scroll") is a Japanese art form in which a tale is told through words and painting. This illustrated format developed in various ways over time, beginning with highly elaborate epics and folk tales in the Heian period (794-1185) to religious narratives such as biographies of eminent priests and legends of temples and shrines in the Kamakura (1185-1333) to Muromachi periods (1392-1572).