Also read nagaban. Also called naga-e 長絵. Lit. long format. A size of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 print. The term chōban is also used for certain format sizes cut from various types of paper.
1 A horizontal, half sheet of an *ōbōsho 大奉書 sheet. Approximately 19-20 by 53cm. Along with the *shikishiban 色紙判, this format was typically used for *surimono 摺物. In long-format surimono, a piece of paper was often horizontally folded in half to allow pictures to be printed on one side and text (poems, greetings, etc.) on the other. Therefore, when unfolded, picture (or text) were upside down.
2 Also called chōōban 長大判 (also read nagaōban) and ōban naga-e 大判長絵. A vertical, 1/3 sheet of a *takenaga bōsho 丈長奉書 sheet. Approximately 52 by 24cm. Examples are found in both crimson prints *beni-e 紅絵 and brocade pictures *nishiki-e 錦絵. In spite of the name, this format should in fact be included in the *hosoban 細判 (narrow format) because the paper is used vertically, and is longer than it is wide.