scroll; rolled book
Refers to a book or document in the form of a rolled scroll, as opposed to a bound codex. Common in historical and manuscript contexts.
This scroll is a hand-copied sutra from the Kamakura period.
Compound of 巻子 (kansu, 'rolled thing') and 本 (hon, 'book'). The exact derivation of 巻子 is uncertain, but it is conventionally associated with the meaning 'scroll'.