Origami
is the craft of folding paper sheets into
decorative items such as birds or
animals
"origami" was derived from a
compound of two smaller Japanese
words: "ori" (root verb "oru"),
meaning to fold, and
"kami", meaning paper.
"Papierfalten" in German and "paper
folding" in English
Paper folding play had been
known by a variety of names,
including
"orikata," "orisue," "orimono,"
"tatamigami" .
• Japanese origami started sometime after Buddhist
monks from China brought the paper to Japan in the
sixth century.
• As early as 200AD, monks documented their use of
Zhezhi.
• "Zhe Zhi" is the Chinese term for paper folding, and
some Chinese believe that origami is a historic version
of Chinese paper folding.
• The first Japanese origami was used for religious
ceremonial purposes only because of the high price of
paper
• "Origami Tsuki" a folded red and white paper
attached to valuable which served as a certificate
of authenticity.
• In the twelfth century, the papermaking method
was applied to Europe, creating a distinct version
of origami.
• The earliest evidence of paper folding in Europe is
an illustration of a small paper boat in the 1498
French edition of Johannes de Sacro Bosco’s
Tractates "De Sphaera Mundi" (On the Sphere of
the World).
• By the 1800s, in Europe and Japan, kinde
rgarten-aged children began learning to fold
paper.
• Since the Meiji era, new models have been
added to traditional origami, and many of them
are suitable to fold with origami paper.
• Japanese Orizuru migrated to Europe and
became Flapping Bird in the first years of the
Meiji era.
• Then Miguel de Unamuno, who was active
from the end of the 19th century to the
early 20th, made many models based on
Flapping Bird.
• When Japan imported Fröbelian origami,
they were translated to "shoshi,"
"tatamigami," or "kamitatami" at the
kindergarten, and to "origami-zaiku" or
"origami" at the primary schools.
• The diagrams, which represent the folding
sequence of a model, are important in modern
origami, as they represent the model itself.
• In the 1950s and 60s, the international origami
circle was established by creators and folders such
as Yoshizawa Akira, Takahama Toshie, Honda Isao,
Robert Harbin, Gershon Legman, Lillian
Oppenheimer, Samuel Randlett, Vicente
Solórzano-Sagredo, and so forth.
• They were not only a form of
children's amusement but also a
form intended for adults.
• There are now many origami
associations that have been
formed overseas by origami
enthusiasts
