The most commonly used style of mounting hanging scrolls *kakemono 掛物 in Japan, and a major class of mounting styles. The other major mounting style is called *bunjin hyōgu 文人表具. The yamato hyōgu became well known in the Muromachi period as a result of influence from Song and Yuan dynasties Chinese painting. Originally, this mounting was used for Shinto images, titles of deities shingō 神号 and imperial letters. The mode of mounting resembled the dōhoe 幢ほえ or semi-formal mounting. The yamato hyōgu is still used for such things as imperial letters, old paintings, and pictures. This mounting also stands in contrast to the Chinese-style *fukuro hyōgu 袋表具 and the formal *honzon hyōgu 本尊表具 which is used for Buddhist paintings.
The essential elements of a yamato hyōgu are the honshi 本紙 (area of the painting or calligraphy itself), *ichimonji 一文字, *chūberi 中縁, *jōge 上下, and ichimonji fūtai 一文字風帯 (see *fūtai 風帯). Because the ichimonji, chūberi, and jōge are done in materials of three different qualities -- with the ichimonji receiving the best, the chūberi the second best, and the jōge the third best -- the mounting is also called sandan hyōgu 三段表具. Originally, the ichimonji was done in yamato nishiki 大和錦 (brocade), and the jōge and chūberi were of very fine crepe paper. The fūtai were made with something that had linen in it.
The yamato hyōgu mounting has three modes shin 真 (hyōhoe ひょうほえ; now hyōho 表補) or formal mode, gyō 行 (dōhoe 幢ほえ; now dōho 幢補) or semi-formal mode, and sō 草 (rinhoe 輪ほえ; now rinpo 輪補) or informal mode, each of which is further subdivided. The hyōhoe and dōhoe modes can each be mounted in shin, gyō, or sō sub-styles, whereas the rinhoe mode normally only contains the sub-styles of gyō and sō. There are many gyō of gyō (semi-formal/semi-formal) style mounted works used today.