1 The textual part of an illustrated handscroll *emaki 絵巻. The word ekotoba does not specify where the text is located in the handscroll or how much text there is. In some cases the text was simply captions or short passages alternating with the picture but in other cases a long text could be written on a separate scroll forming part of a set. See *kotobagaki 詞書.
2 Some illustrated handscrolls which include text are called ekotoba instead of *emaki 絵巻, such as Ban Dainagon emaki 伴大納言絵巻, the illustrated handscroll of The Courtier Ban Dainagon (late 12th century), Idemitsu 出光 Museum of Art, Tokyo. Despite the fact that the word is used interchangeably with emaki today, prior to the Edo period ekotoba was used solely for the textual portion of emaki. When the word emaki became popular in the Edo period, ekotoba became confused with emaki, which led to their being used interchangeably.