The first appearance of 'Yamato-e' as opposed to Kara-e was considered as the section dated December 15, 999 in the dairy of FUJIWARA no Yukinari, 'Gonki,' in which it was recorded that Yukinari, who was famous for good penmanship in those days, wrote letters on the 'Yamato-e yonshaku byobu' (folding screen of 1.2 meter width with Yamato-e).
唐絵に対する「やまと絵」の語の初出は、藤原行成の日記「権記」の長保元年（999年）10月30日条とされ、そこには「倭絵四尺屏風」に、当時能書として評判の高かった行成が文字を書き入れたことが記録されている。