The Japanese art of folding paper, traditionally from a single uncut square, into birds, boxes, flowers and figures. Once a ceremonial and recreational pastime, it became a worldwide art and a branch of applied mathematics in the twentieth century, with fold patterns now used in engineering from spacecraft panels to medical stents. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Earliest Evidence (Circa)Recreational paper folding is documented in Japan by the Edo period; the 1797 Senbazuru Orikata, on folding a thousand cranes, is the earliest known book of recreational origami 1 OriginPaper folding in Japan began as ceremony, not play: wrapping gifts and making religious paper decorations became stylized into ceremonial origami first, and recreational folding is only pictured later, on a Japanese sword fitting made between the late 1500s and early 1600s that shows a folded paper crane. 1 Connections
Associated With
Has Figure
Source Akira Yoshizawa (Wikipedia)
Open Questions
Source Origami (Wikipedia)
Tools Used
Source Bone Folder (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Origami (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundationen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origami, History section
the kozuka of a Japanese sword made by GotÅ EijÅ between the end of the 1500s and the beginning of the 1600s was decorated with a picture of a crane made of origami
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origami, Recreational origami section
Hiden senbazuru orikata (ja:秘傳千羽鶴折形), published in 1797, is the oldest known technical book on origami for play.
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Open Questions (1 open question)
Where and when did the practice of paper folding for play actually begin?
Although the word origami has Japanese roots, the practice of paper folding is universal, with separate traditions documented in Europe, China and Japan, and its ultimate origin remains unknown. It is not even certain when play-made paper models began in Japan itself: the earliest suggestive evidence is a sword fitting decorated with a folded-paper crane from the late 1500s or early 1600s.
What would resolve this Securely dated paper-folding artifacts or documentary references earlier than the Japanese sword fitting and the earliest European folding traditions, tying a specific place and period to the first paper folded for play rather than ceremony.
History of technology, art historyOrigami (Wikipedia)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is origami originally Japanese?
The name is Japanese, but paper folding developed separately in Japan, China and Europe; the oldest known origami instruction book dates to 1797.
The word origami has Japanese roots, but paper folding itself is universal, with separate documented traditions in Europe, China and Japan that developed mostly independently until the 20th century. Ceremonial paper folding in Japan grew out of Heian-period papermaking and court etiquette, while recreational paper folding for play is harder to date; the oldest known technical book on origami for play, Hiden senbazuru orikata, was published in 1797.
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