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The folding of two origami cranes linked together from the first known book on origamiHiden senbazuru orikata published in Japan in 1797.

The history of origami followed after the in ention of paper and as a result of paper!s use in society. "ndependent paper folding traditions e#ist in $ast %sia and $urope, and it is unclear whether these e ol ed separately or had a common source. Contents
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1 (rigins and the traditional designs ) *odern designs and inno ations

+ ,adako and the thousand cranes

- ,ee also

. /eferences

0 $#ternal links

(rigins and the traditional designs&edit'

The Japanese word 1origami1 itself is a compound of two smaller Japanese words2 1ori1, meaning to fold, and 1kami1, meaning paper. 3ntil recently, all forms of paper folding were not grouped under the word origami, namely 1tsutsumi1, a kind of wrapper used for formal occasions. 4efore that, paperfolding for play was known by a ariety of names, including 1orikata1, 1orisue1, 1orimono1, 1tatamigami1 and others. $#actly why 1origami1 became

the common name is not known5 it has been suggested that the word was adopted in the kindergartens because the written characters were easier for young children to write. %nother theory is that the word 1origami1 was a direct translation of the 6erman word 17apierfalten1, brought into Japan with the 8indergarten *o ement around 199:. Japanese origami began sometime after 4uddhist monks carried paper to Japan during the 0th century. &1' The first Japanese origami is dated from this period and was used for religious ceremonial purposes only, due to the high price of paper. &)' % reference in a poem by "hara ,aikaku from 109:, which describes the origami butterflies used during ,hinto weddings to represent the bride and groom, indicates that origami had become a significant aspect of Japanese ceremony by the ;eian period <79-=119.>.&+' ,amurai warriorsare known to ha e e#changed gifts adorned with noshi, a sort of good luck token made of folded strips of paper. "n 1797 the first known origami book was published in Japan2 Senbazuru orikata. There are se eral origami stories in Japanese culture, such as a story of %be no ,eimei making a paper bird and turning it into a real one. &citation needed' The earliest e idence of paperfolding in $urope is a picture of a small paper boat in Tractatus de sphaera mundi from 1-9:. There is also e idence of a cut and folded paper bo# from 1--:.&-' "t is possible that paperfolding in the west originated with the *oors much earlier5 howe er, it is not known if it was independently disco ered or knowledge of origami came along the silk route. The modern growth of interest in origami dates to the design in 19.- by %kira ?oshi@awa of a notation to indicate how to fold origami models.
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The ?oshi@awaA/andlett system is now used internationally. Today the popularity of origami has gi en rise to origami societies such as the4ritish

(rigami ,ociety and (rigami3,%. The first known origami social group was founded in Barago@a, ,pain, during the 19-:s. &0' The Chinese word for paperfolding is "Zhe Zhi" <>, and some Chinese contend that origami is a historical deri ati e of Chinese paperfolding.

*odern designs and inno ations&edit'

%n e#ample of modular origami <geometric shapes formed from ,onobe units>

Friedrich FrDbel, founder of the kindergartens, recogni@ed paper binding, wea ing, folding, and cutting as teaching aids for child de elopment during the early 19th century. %s the kindergarten system spread throughout $urope and into the rest of the world, it brought with it the small colored sEuares that we know of today as origami paper. Josef %lbers, the father of modern color theory and minimalistic art, taught origami and paper folding in the 19):s and +:s at the famous 4ahaus design school. ;is methods, which in ol ed sheets of round paper that were folded into spirals and cur ed shapes, ha e influenced modern origami artists like 8unihiko 8asahara. The work of %kira ?oshi@awa, of Japan, a prolific creator of origami designs and a writer of books on origami, inspired a modern renaissance of the craft. ;e in ented the process and techniEues of wetAfolding and set down the initial set of symbols for the standard ?oshi@awaA/andlett

system that /obert ;arbin and ,amuel /andlett later impro ed upon. ;is work was promoted through the studies of 6ershon Fegman as published in the seminal books of /obert ;arbin!s 7aper *agic and more so in ,ecrets of the (rigami *asters which re ealed the wide world of paper folding in the midA190:s. *odern origami has attracted a worldwide following, with e er more intricate designs and new techniEues. (ne of these techniEues is !wetAfolding,! the practice of dampening the paper somewhat during folding to allow the finished product to hold shape better. Gariations such as modular origami, also known as unit origami, is a process where many origami units are assembled to form an often decorati e whole. Comple# origami models normally reEuire thin, strong paper or tissue foil for successful folding5 these lightweight materials allow for more layers before the model becomes impractically thick. *odern origami has broken free from the traditional linear construction techniEues of the past, and models are now freEuently wetAfolded or constructed from materials other than paper and foil. With popularity, a new generation of origami creators has e#perimented with crinkling techniEues and smoothAflowing designs used in creating realistic masks, animals, and other traditional artistic themes.

,adako and the thousand cranes&edit'

(ne of the most famous origami designs is the Japanese crane. The crane is auspicious in Japanese culture. Fegend says that anyone who folds one thousand paper cranes will ha e their heart!s desire come true. The origami crane < orizuru in Japanese> has become a symbol of peace because of this belief and because of a young Japanese girl named ,adako ,asaki. ,adako was e#posed to the radiation of the atomic bombing of ;iroshima as an infant, and it took its ine itable toll on her health. ,he was then a hibakusha H an atom bomb sur i or. 4y the time she was twel e in 19.., she was dying of leukemia. ;earing the legend, she decided to foldone thousand origami cranes so that she could li e. ;owe er, when she saw that the other children in her ward were dying, she reali@ed that she would not sur i e and wished instead for world peace and an end to suffering. % popular ersion of the tale is that ,adako folded 0-- cranes before she died5 her classmates then continued folding cranes in honor of their friend. ,he was buried with a wreath of 1,::: cranes to honor her dream. While her effort could not e#tend her life, it mo ed her friends to make a granite statue of ,adako in the ;iroshima 7eace 7ark2 a girl standing with her hands outstretched, a paper crane flying from her fingertips. $ ery year the statue is adorned with thousands of wreaths of a thousand origami cranes. % group of one thousand paper cranes is called senbazuru in Japanese < >. The tale of ,adako has been dramati@ed in many books and mo ies. "n one ersion, ,adako wrote a haiku that translates into $nglish as2 I shall write peace upon your wings, and you shall fly around the world so that children will no longer have to die this way. &citation needed'