Origami

Origami is the Japanese art of folding a single sheet of paper into a figure, without cutting or gluing, and its name joins ori, 'fold', and kami, 'paper'. Paper reached Japan from China and Korea about the seventh century, and folded paper was used for ceremonial wrapping and decoration before it became a pastime. The first surviving book of folding instructions, Hiden Senbazuru Orikata, appeared in 1797, and it explains how to fold linked cranes from one sheet.

How it is played

The folder starts with a square of paper and makes a sequence of valley folds, where the paper folds toward the folder, and mountain folds, where it folds away. Creases are pressed sharp and the paper is reshaped by opening, flattening and turning steps, for example a squash fold or a reverse fold. The crane, with its long neck and spread wings, is the most famous model, and a kite, a fish and a paper dart are good starters. Each model is described by a short series of diagrams that follow the same set of symbols used worldwide.

Heritage note

The modern art owes much to Akira Yoshizawa (1911-2005), who created thousands of designs and developed the system of lines and arrows now used in instruction diagrams, later refined with the Western folders Samuel Randlett and Robert Harbin. Paper folding also has independent traditions in China, Spain and Germany, where it was part of the kindergarten method of Friedrich Froebel. A thousand paper cranes, senbazuru, strung together are given in Japan as a wish for health and long life, and the crane has become a global symbol of peace. Modern folders explore mathematics, engineering and medical devices with the same craft.

Origins

Developed in Japan from the 7th century onward after the arrival of paper; the first surviving instruction book dates from 1797, and the modern international art spread after the 1950s.