ARTH321

History of Design
Japanese Origami
Adora Hoyte 0081982
10th November 2016
Word # 764

What is Origami? A folk art, a creative art, a mathematical puzzle, a game- all terms to describe this art.
Origami is the ancient art of Japanese paper folding, it is an art form spanning over 1000 years. It comes
from the word 'Ori' meaning folded and the word 'kami' meaning paper. As a child I'm sure most, if not
all of us remember the days of making paper planes, hats and also boats. Well guess what this is pretty
much origami.
Like many aspects of Japanese culture, origami has roots in China as Paper making was developed in
China two thousand years ago. However the Chinese did not readily share their knowledge on paper
making. It is believed that origami originated in Japan, however paper folding was a tradition for
hundreds of years in China before but it was the Japanese who have evolved paper folding into origami
and made it into a popular art form.
Paper was folded into set shapes for ceremonial occasions such as weddings. Jagged strips of white
paper were used to mark sacred objects, it is a custom that to this day can be seen in every shrine. At
first it was used in the Japanese imperial court, and was seen as an amusing as well as elegant way to
past the time. At the earlier stages of Origami, since paper was a rare enough material, it became a past
time for the elite.
Today, the art of paper folding, after being passed down through many generations to ordinary people,
they have made origami into an amazing folk art and is widely practiced amongst children and have also
captured the attention of mathematicians, engineers, scientists, computer designers and even college
professors and professional artists.
While some people are attracted to origami for its simplicity, others like to marvel at the minds of the
creators of such interesting and beautiful patterns and designs. As origami requires no materials other
than paper, it is quite unique amongst other forms of paper crafts. There is no cutting, gluing or drawing
on the paper, just folding to achieve its desired look. So therefore it is safe to say that since origami
requires no special skills or artistic talent to recreate the various existing designs, almost anyone can do
it as long as the have patience and follow the instructions to the letter.
The tsuru (crane) is one of the most complicated designs that most people master. It has been
developed into a worldwide symbol of children's desire for peace even though it was not originally
created for children. The is a story that an 11 year old by the name of Sasaki Sadako developed leukemia
due to radiation exposure as a baby from an atomic bombing in 1945. Tradition held that once you have
made a senbazuru which is a thousand paper cranes and made a wish after creating all of them, then
that wish would come true. This little girl set out to make these cranes In hopes that she could wish to
be cured from her cancer. As she continued to make these cranes she changed her mind about the wish,
instead wanting to wish for world peace. It is unsure as to which of these two versions are correct but in
one she died after only being able to make 644 so her schoolmates got together to complete her task by
making the remainder and at her funeral they dedicated them to her. The other version states that she
was able to make the full 1000 cranes and continued to create several hundreds ore before she was
eventually taken by her cancer at the age of 12. Whichever story it is, it inspired the Children's Peace
Memorial in Hiroshima and a statue of Sadako in Seattle. Every year on Peace Day, August 6th, tens of
thousands of origami tsuru are sent to Hiroshima by children over the world.

Japanese origami is a fun creative way to spend your time as long as you have patience. We in the
western society also benefit from this art form and most of us dont even realize it like the kids and their
paper airplanes etc and also it is seen done by adults especially in the food business but instead of
paper they fold napkins in the shape of flowers and swans along with other shapes. We truly have to
appreciate this Japanese influence we have.

Statue of Sasaki Sadako in Seattle Peace Park.

Japanese origami doll

lotus flowers

crane

BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://www.japan-zone.com/culture/origami.shtml
home.earthlink.net/~robertcubie/origami/intro.html
www.origami-fun.com/japanese-origami.html
web-japan.org/kidsweb/virtual/origami/origami01.html
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/487373990905760822/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/268597565252976774/