According to such descriptions written in a volume captioned 'Eawase' (picture contest) in "Genji Monogatari,' many scrolls of illustrated tales may be assumed to have been produced during the beginning and middle Heian period in Japan, but since none of such scrolls are now existing that were produced between the 9th and 11th centuries, we are unable to trace clearly how the styles of illustrated scrolls, of that period, had developed.
『源氏物語』の「絵合（えあわせ）」の巻などを参照すると、日本では平安時代前期～中期にも多くの物語絵が制作されたことが推測されるが、9世紀～11世紀までの絵巻物作品の現存するものは皆無であり、この間、絵巻物の画風がどのような発展過程を経たのかは定かでない。