Far Eastern pictorial art differs from western pictorial art in one major respect - it is usually functional. The hanging scroll, the hand scroll and the screen all perform a function. It is essential to understand these objects in order to be able to conserve and restore them correctly. The article is illustrated with photographs showing how these different objects are arranged within japanese architecture as well as with photographs of typical examples from the british museum. A description including the use and function of screens (fusuma, shoji, byobu), the handscroll (makimono) and the hanging scroll (kakemono) is given.