Kansuso' (a hand scroll or horizontal scroll) means a binding style of a horizontally long sized scroll of paper (or silk cloths on rare occasions) made up of many rectangular sheets connected side by side in lateral direction, and equipped with a roller on one end of the sheet to wind the whole sheet up on it to store the scroll, and we call various documents, Buddhist sutras, and other paintings, which are made up in this kansuso method of binding, as 'kansubon' or more generally 'makimono.'
紙（まれに絹）を横方向に順次つないで、水平方向に長大な紙面を作り、終端に巻き軸をつけ、収納時には軸を中心にして巻き収めることができるようにした装丁形式を「巻子装」（かんすそう）と言い、このような装丁で作られた書物、経典、絵画作品などを「巻子本」、より一般的には「巻物」という。