Emakimono are classified, according to the subjects of painted pictures, into monogatari-e (illustrated tales), setsuwa-e (didactic pictures), senki-e (illustrated tales of battles), shaji-engi-e (illustrated founding stories of shrines and temples), kosoden-e (illustrated biographies of high rank priests), kasen-e (illustrated scroll of celebrated poets) and so on.
絵巻物はその題材によって、物語絵、説話絵、戦記絵、社寺縁起絵、高僧伝絵、歌仙絵などに分類される。