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History of Origami

Since about the first century AD, the time when it is believed that paper was first invented in China, people have been folding paper into various shapes. The Chinese developed some simple forms, some of which survive down to this day. When the secret of paper was carried to Japan in the sixth century AD by Buddhist monks, it was quickly integrated into their culture. Paper was used in architecture and in the many rituals of everyday Japanese life and of the Shinto religion. "Ori" is the Japanese word for folding and "kami" is the Japanese word for paper.In fact, the word for paper, kami, The designs associated with Shintoist ceremony have remained unchanged over the centuries.

At first, there was very little paper available so only the rich could afford to do paperfolding. The Japanese found useful purposes for their origami. For example, the Samurai (sa-MURE-ay) would exchange gifts with a form known as a noshi (NO-shee). This was a paper folded with a strip of dried fish or meat. It was considered a good luck token. Also, the Shinto Noblemen would celebrate weddings by wrapping glasses of sake or rice wine in butterfly forms that had been folded to represent the bride and groom.

As easier papermaking methods were developed, paper became less expensive. Origami became a popular art for everyone, no matter if they were rich or poor. However, the Japanese people have always been very careful not to waste anything. They have always saved even the tiniest scraps of paper and used them for folding origami models.

For centuries there were no written directions for folding origami models. The directions were taught to each generation and then handed down to the next. This form of art became part of the cultural heritage of the Japanese people. In 1797, How to Fold 1000 Cranes was published. This book contained the first written set of origami instructions which told how to fold a crane.  The crane was considered a sacred bird in Japan. It was a Japanese custom that if a person folded 1000 cranes, they would be granted one wish. Origami became a very popular form of art as shown by the well-known Japanese woodblock print that was made in 1819 entitled "A Magician Turns Sheets of Birds". This print shows birds being created from pieces of paper.

The Japanese transmitted their designs via an oral tradition, with the recreational designs being passed from mother to daughter. Because nothing was ever written down, only the simplest designs were kept. The first written instructions appeared in AD 1797 with the publication of the Senbazuru Orikata (How to fold one thousand cranes). The Kan no mado (Window on Midwinter), a comprehensive collection of traditional Japanese figures, was published in 1845. The name origami was coined in 1880 from the words oru (to fold) and kami (paper). Previously, the art was called orikata.

Meanwhile, paper folding was also being developed in Spain. Arabs brought the secret of paper-making to North Africa, and, in the eight century AD, the Moors brought that secret to Spain. The Moors were devout Muslims and their religion forbade the creation of representational figures. Instead, their paper folding was a study of the geometries inherent in the paper. After the Moors were driven out of Spain during the Inquisition, the Spanish went beyond the geometric designs and developed 'papiroflexia', an art that is still popular in Spain and Argentina.

Modern creative paper folding (as opposed to repetitions of traditional designs) owes its existence to Akira Yoshizawa. Beginning in the 1930s, Yoshizawa has created tens of thousands of models of every conceivable subject. He, along with American Sam Randlett, is the originator of the system of lines and arrows that are used in paper folding instructions. Exhibitions of his work in the West in the 1950s inspired many Westerners to fold, and, by the mid 1960s, paper folding was developing as quickly in the West as in Japan. Today, Yoshizawa, aged 83, is a living treasure of Japan.

Today, master paper folders can be found in many places around the world. New and improved folding techniques have produced models that would have astounded the ancients. They still manage to astound many people today. Where once it was considered a feat to fold a representational insect that gave the impression of a segmented body and multiple legs, anatomically correct insects are now considered commonplace and the feat is to create insects that are of a recognizable species. Happily, not all paper folders have reduced paper folding to greater and greater achievements of technical skill. The artistry of paper folding is also flourishing.

Composition and paper choice play an important role in this newfound artistry. Yoshizawa has also led the way in this area, producing fabulous displays that capture the life of his subjects, whether shown as a diorama, as a mobile, or in a shadow box. He has developed a technique known as back coating that is the lamination of two layers of handmade mulberry paper (such as unryu or chiri) to produce a paper that is unparalleled for folding. Also, a technique known as wet folding, where a heavily sized paper folded, while wet, allows the folder to sculpt his model into soft curves and 3D forms.

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