The standard size (trimmed) for a sheet of paper was 51 x 38cm, named Obosho (大大判, 'o-oban' or 'large Hō-sho') or double Oban. Longer formats (rolls, pillar prints, etc.) were put together from several smaller sheets. The Japanese formats do not follow exact golden ratio rules, thus  smaller formats as fractions of 'Obosho' are not exactly given, and vary slightly, thus uncut formats use additional descriptors for the formats given ('large' Obosho or 'ôbôsho 'zenshiban'; 58 X 42cm). Smaller formats are symmetrically cuts from the appropriate lager format.

The alignment  of the format appears usually after the descriptor for the format. 'Landscape' (horizontal alignment) is named "yoko-e" (横絵), whereas 'Portrait' (vertically aligned) formats are named "tate-e" (縦絵). , thus a vertically aligned 'oban-portrait' format is named 'oban tate-e'.

Most ukiyo-e sheets have 'oban'-format, thus a vertically aligned 'oban-portrait' format is named 'oban tate-e' (大判 縦絵) .  Oban paper is made by cutting a piece of 'obosho' vertically. Diptychs, triptychs, pentaptychs are simply made by placing them horizontally together.

Format	Format (Japanese)	Size (cm)	Size (in)	Note
O-oban (O-bosho)	大大判	51.0 x 38.0	31.0 x 21.0	complete sheet
Oban	大判	25.5 x 38.0	15.5 x 10.5	1/2 O-oban
Chuban	中判	25.5 x 19.0	10.2 x  7.5	1/4 O-oban
Koban	小判	16.0 x 12.0	6.3 x  4.7
Yotsugiri	四つ切り	13.0 x 9.5	5.1  x  3.8	1/8 O-oban
Hoshoban	細判	33 × 14.5	13.0 × 5.7	narrow format
Kakemono-e	掛物絵	76.5 × 23	30.1 × 9.1	hangging scrolls
Surimono	摺物	12 x 9  // 19 x 13	4.7 x 3.5 // 7.5 x 5.1	invitational cards
Hashira-e	柱絵	29.5 x 12.0	5.2 x  7.3	pillar print, for vertical arrangments
Tanzaku	短冊	~	~	means paper cut into strips, or thin slices of wood.

Smaller formats, even with different printed motivs, were most often printed on larger format paper, and then cut after the printing process (cp. 'Yotsugiri', literally, 'cut into four parts' of an Oban sheet).