The Topic is about Origami theory knowledge 
Last edited by Kei on Sat Jul 09, 2011 6:07 pm; edited 1 time in total
Origami Culture
Kei- Admin
- Posts : 12
Join date : 2011-07-01
Location : Melbourne
Last edited by Kei on Sat Jul 09, 2011 6:07 pm; edited 1 time in total
Kei- Admin
- Posts : 12
Join date : 2011-07-01
Location : Melbourne
Origami history details may be found easily in Origami books and Internet 
So I won't repeat the existing information of Wikipedia in here
1. ORIGAMI was a combination of:
ORI = ORU = fold
GAMI = KAMI = paper
It's easy to remember right?
2. Origami origin is unknown.
Hatori Koshiro wrote about Origami History in his blog K's Origami. His full blog can be found in the website:
http://origami.ousaan.com/library/historye.html
pls visit his website for the full article
'
So I won't repeat the existing information of Wikipedia in here
1. ORIGAMI was a combination of:
ORI = ORU = fold
GAMI = KAMI = paper
It's easy to remember right?
2. Origami origin is unknown.
Hatori Koshiro wrote about Origami History in his blog K's Origami. His full blog can be found in the website:
http://origami.ousaan.com/library/historye.html
pls visit his website for the full article
'Before Origami
We know very little about the origin of origami.
Some say origami originated in China around 2000 years ago. But it is probably wrong. This opinion is based on the conjecture that origami started right after the invention of paper, for which we have no evidence. The paper of Former Han dynasty shows no trace of origami.
The Chinese character for paper, zhi, originally stood for writing material made of silk. The origin of the Japanese word for paper, kami, is said to be birch tree, kaba, or strips of wood or bamboo, kan. Both of them were also writing material. These suggest that paper was primarily writing material, not folding.
Others say origami originated from Japan in Heian era. Again, it is probably wrong. They refer to a story of Abe-no Seimei who made a paper bird and turned it to a real one, or another story about Fujiwara-no Kiyosuke who sent his ex-girlfriend a fake frog. There is no reason, however, for believing that they folded paper to make them.
In Japan, we use wrapping paper called tatogami or tato. Today we mainly wrap kimono with it. It actually dates back to Heian era. But it is by no means an example of origami, since it is folded just squarely.
We use paper strips, shide or heisoku, and paper dolls, hitogata, in Shinto. They are also old. However, they were never made of paper in ancient Japan. In addition, they are not necessarily folded even now. We can see no relationship between Japanese religion and the origin of origami. The Japanese words for paper and gods have the same spelling, kami. But their pronunciation were different in old Japanese.
We use the word origami from Heian era in Japan. But it originally refers to a form of writing. An origami is a landscape piece of paper folded in half latitudinally. We usually write letters or lists on it. In today's Japan, origami-tsuki (with origami) means authentic because connoisseurs write their appraisal on the origami since Edo era.
We did not call paper folding origami in Japan until Showa era. Origami was called "orisue" or "orikata" in Edo era, and "orimono" from the end of Edo era to the early Showa era.
Japanese Classic Origami
The oldest unequivocal document of origami is a short poem composed by Ihara Saikaku in 1680. It reads: Rosei-ga yume-no cho-wa orisue (The butterflies in Rosei's dream would be origami.) Here he referred to an origami model called Ocho Mecho (Male and Female Butterflies) as "orisue." We use it to wrap sake bottles mainly at the wedding ceremony.
Origami was included in the manners of the samurai class which was passed down by the Houses of Ogasawara, Ise, Imagawa, and others. Ocho Mecho, as well as Noshi, is an example of this ceremonial origami. There are many folding patterns for many purposes. According to Ise Sadatake's "Tsutsumi-no Ki" (1764,) such origami originated in Muromachi era.
More familiar origami models such as Orizuru and Yakko-san have been depicted in ukiyoe or patterns for kimono since 18th century. To be accurate, Yakko-san did not exist at that time. They folded it in half and called Komoso. "Ramma Zushiki" (1734) shows pictures of Boat, Sanbo, and a modular origami called Tamatebako, besides Orizuru and Komoso. We do not know when these models arose.
Some differentiate such recreational origami from ceremonial one. But it does not seem that they drew the line between them in Edo era. In Saikaku's "Koshoku Ichidai Otoko" of 1682, the protagonist Yonosuke made "orisue" of Hiyoku-no Tori, which is supposed to be something like Orizuru.
Nor did Adachi Kazuyuki separate ceremonial and recreational origami when he recorded many origami models in his "Kayaragusa" around 1845. Speaking of "Kayaragusa," this book is sometimes wrongly called "Kan-no Mado," based on an error on a copy.
Akisato Rito published "Sembazuru Orikata" in 1797. "Sembazuru" literally means one thousand cranes, but at that time it meant dozens of connected Orizuru folded from one sheet of paper. It is sometimes said to be the oldest origami book in the world. But, if we do not differentiate two types of origami, "Tsutsumi-no Ki" is older.
Based on these sources and others such as anonymous "Orikata-dehon Chushingura" (c.1800,) we can enumerate the characteristics of Japanese classic origami. They folded paper in different shapes with a lot of cuts. They also used many judgement folds. And the design was dependent on the quality of Japanese handmade paper, washi. To make a colored pattern, they laid some sheets of paper in different colors on each other, or painted.
European Classic Origami
Origami is not "Japanese" art.
We can recognize a picture in the 1490 edition of "Tractatus de Sphaera Mundi," which was written by Johannes de Sacrobosco (John of Holywood) in 13th century and printed over 60 times through the middle of 17th century, to be the same as that of Boat in "Ramma Zushiki." If it is really an origami boat, it is unlikely to have descended from Japan, since Japanese origami at that time would be ceremonial one if any.
Baptismal Certificate
circa 1741
origami-resource-center.com
John Webster referred to a "paper prison" in his play "The Duchess of Malfi," which was premiered around 1614 and published in 1623. It is probably an origami model known as Water Bomb today. It does not appear in any Japanese sources of Edo era.
We can find some unequivocal references to the origami of 19th century all across Europe. Among others, the German National Museum and Museum of Saxon Folk Art have origami horses and riders, which are thought to have been folded around 1810 or 20, in their collections.
In the middle of 19th century, Friedrich Fröbel established the world first kindergarten. His educational system included some toys called "Gifts" and some plays called "Occupations." One of the occupations was undoubtedly origami.
Fröbel's gifts and occupations have three categories, forms of life, forms of beauty, and forms of knowledge. Ordinary origami is categorized into forms of life. In the origami of forms of beauty, they fold symmetric patterns starting from blintz fold. Elementary geometry is taught in the origami of forms of knowledge.
Only a few models of 19th century European origami can be found in contemporary Japanese sources. Even now, very few Japanese know Pajarita (Little Bird,) though every Spanish knows it. On the other hand, Orizuru was not known in Europe at that time though it was typical of Japanese classic origami.
The models of European classic origami were based on creases of 45 degrees, whereas Japanese ones such as Orizuru or Frog were based on those of 22.5 degrees. They used only square or rectangular paper, and they did not use judgement folds or cuts very much. European and Japanese classic origami were so different that they seem to have developed independently.
The origin of European origami is not known, but it may relate to the baptismal certificate of 16th to 17th century. At that time, they folded baptismal certificates into double blintz or the same shape as Japanese model called Menko or Thread Holder. It is said that this "ceremonial origami" may date back to 15th century.
We know very little about the origin of origami.
Some say origami originated in China around 2000 years ago. But it is probably wrong. This opinion is based on the conjecture that origami started right after the invention of paper, for which we have no evidence. The paper of Former Han dynasty shows no trace of origami.
The Chinese character for paper, zhi, originally stood for writing material made of silk. The origin of the Japanese word for paper, kami, is said to be birch tree, kaba, or strips of wood or bamboo, kan. Both of them were also writing material. These suggest that paper was primarily writing material, not folding.
Others say origami originated from Japan in Heian era. Again, it is probably wrong. They refer to a story of Abe-no Seimei who made a paper bird and turned it to a real one, or another story about Fujiwara-no Kiyosuke who sent his ex-girlfriend a fake frog. There is no reason, however, for believing that they folded paper to make them.
In Japan, we use wrapping paper called tatogami or tato. Today we mainly wrap kimono with it. It actually dates back to Heian era. But it is by no means an example of origami, since it is folded just squarely.
We use paper strips, shide or heisoku, and paper dolls, hitogata, in Shinto. They are also old. However, they were never made of paper in ancient Japan. In addition, they are not necessarily folded even now. We can see no relationship between Japanese religion and the origin of origami. The Japanese words for paper and gods have the same spelling, kami. But their pronunciation were different in old Japanese.
We use the word origami from Heian era in Japan. But it originally refers to a form of writing. An origami is a landscape piece of paper folded in half latitudinally. We usually write letters or lists on it. In today's Japan, origami-tsuki (with origami) means authentic because connoisseurs write their appraisal on the origami since Edo era.
We did not call paper folding origami in Japan until Showa era. Origami was called "orisue" or "orikata" in Edo era, and "orimono" from the end of Edo era to the early Showa era.
Japanese Classic Origami
The oldest unequivocal document of origami is a short poem composed by Ihara Saikaku in 1680. It reads: Rosei-ga yume-no cho-wa orisue (The butterflies in Rosei's dream would be origami.) Here he referred to an origami model called Ocho Mecho (Male and Female Butterflies) as "orisue." We use it to wrap sake bottles mainly at the wedding ceremony.
Origami was included in the manners of the samurai class which was passed down by the Houses of Ogasawara, Ise, Imagawa, and others. Ocho Mecho, as well as Noshi, is an example of this ceremonial origami. There are many folding patterns for many purposes. According to Ise Sadatake's "Tsutsumi-no Ki" (1764,) such origami originated in Muromachi era.
More familiar origami models such as Orizuru and Yakko-san have been depicted in ukiyoe or patterns for kimono since 18th century. To be accurate, Yakko-san did not exist at that time. They folded it in half and called Komoso. "Ramma Zushiki" (1734) shows pictures of Boat, Sanbo, and a modular origami called Tamatebako, besides Orizuru and Komoso. We do not know when these models arose.
Some differentiate such recreational origami from ceremonial one. But it does not seem that they drew the line between them in Edo era. In Saikaku's "Koshoku Ichidai Otoko" of 1682, the protagonist Yonosuke made "orisue" of Hiyoku-no Tori, which is supposed to be something like Orizuru.
Nor did Adachi Kazuyuki separate ceremonial and recreational origami when he recorded many origami models in his "Kayaragusa" around 1845. Speaking of "Kayaragusa," this book is sometimes wrongly called "Kan-no Mado," based on an error on a copy.
Akisato Rito published "Sembazuru Orikata" in 1797. "Sembazuru" literally means one thousand cranes, but at that time it meant dozens of connected Orizuru folded from one sheet of paper. It is sometimes said to be the oldest origami book in the world. But, if we do not differentiate two types of origami, "Tsutsumi-no Ki" is older.
Based on these sources and others such as anonymous "Orikata-dehon Chushingura" (c.1800,) we can enumerate the characteristics of Japanese classic origami. They folded paper in different shapes with a lot of cuts. They also used many judgement folds. And the design was dependent on the quality of Japanese handmade paper, washi. To make a colored pattern, they laid some sheets of paper in different colors on each other, or painted.
European Classic Origami
Origami is not "Japanese" art.
We can recognize a picture in the 1490 edition of "Tractatus de Sphaera Mundi," which was written by Johannes de Sacrobosco (John of Holywood) in 13th century and printed over 60 times through the middle of 17th century, to be the same as that of Boat in "Ramma Zushiki." If it is really an origami boat, it is unlikely to have descended from Japan, since Japanese origami at that time would be ceremonial one if any.
Baptismal Certificate
circa 1741
origami-resource-center.com
John Webster referred to a "paper prison" in his play "The Duchess of Malfi," which was premiered around 1614 and published in 1623. It is probably an origami model known as Water Bomb today. It does not appear in any Japanese sources of Edo era.
We can find some unequivocal references to the origami of 19th century all across Europe. Among others, the German National Museum and Museum of Saxon Folk Art have origami horses and riders, which are thought to have been folded around 1810 or 20, in their collections.
In the middle of 19th century, Friedrich Fröbel established the world first kindergarten. His educational system included some toys called "Gifts" and some plays called "Occupations." One of the occupations was undoubtedly origami.
Fröbel's gifts and occupations have three categories, forms of life, forms of beauty, and forms of knowledge. Ordinary origami is categorized into forms of life. In the origami of forms of beauty, they fold symmetric patterns starting from blintz fold. Elementary geometry is taught in the origami of forms of knowledge.
Only a few models of 19th century European origami can be found in contemporary Japanese sources. Even now, very few Japanese know Pajarita (Little Bird,) though every Spanish knows it. On the other hand, Orizuru was not known in Europe at that time though it was typical of Japanese classic origami.
The models of European classic origami were based on creases of 45 degrees, whereas Japanese ones such as Orizuru or Frog were based on those of 22.5 degrees. They used only square or rectangular paper, and they did not use judgement folds or cuts very much. European and Japanese classic origami were so different that they seem to have developed independently.
The origin of European origami is not known, but it may relate to the baptismal certificate of 16th to 17th century. At that time, they folded baptismal certificates into double blintz or the same shape as Japanese model called Menko or Thread Holder. It is said that this "ceremonial origami" may date back to 15th century.
Kei- Admin
- Posts : 12
Join date : 2011-07-01
Location : Melbourne
Paper folding was experienced for a very long time ago since people discovered how to make paper
The list of the important landmarks below was extracted from the website :
http://www.giladorigami.com/swami/timeline.html
The list of the important landmarks below was extracted from the website :
http://www.giladorigami.com/swami/timeline.html
visit the website for more Origami related details
PAPER FOLDING HISTORICAL TIMELINE
[ Ancient Egypt ] - Oldest map fold
[ 95 B.C ] - The Invention of Paper
[ Tang Dynasty ] - Chinese Bookbinding
[ Heyan Era ]
- Tato Folds
- Kusudama (Medicine Ball)
- Mecho and Ocho
[ Song Dynasty ] - Chinese Folding Fans
[ Mayan Empire ] - Maya Codices
[ Yung Dynasty ] - Funerary Objects
[ 1490 ] - First illustration of folded boat
[ 1581 ] - Italian Napkin Folding and Waterbomb Base
[ 17th-19th Century ] - Baptismal Certificates and Windmill-Folds in the west
[ Edo Period ] - Recreational origami in Japan
[ 1676 ] - Troublewit
[ 1680 ] - Origami butterflies mentioned in a poem
[ 1682-1717 ] - First References to Origami (Orisue)
and Traditional Folded Cranes (Orizuru)
[ 1734 ] - Japanese Print of Folded Models
[ 1764 ] - Tsutsumi-no Ki (Book of Wrapping) by ISE Sadatake
[ 1797 ] - Hiden Senbazuru Orikata
(The Secret of One Thousand Cranes Origami)
[ C. 1800 ] - Chushingura Orikata
[ 1845 ] - KAYARA-GUSA (Kan-No Mado)
[ Late 19th century ] - Froebelian Folding
[ 1872 ] - Paper Hat Step Folds Published in Scientific American
[ 1886 ] - Published Diagrams for the Flapping Bird
[ 1887 ] - Published Diagrams for the Paper Boat
[ 1898 ] - Lillian Oppenheimer born
[ 1909 ] - Robert Harbin born
[ 1911 ] - Akira Yoshizawa born
[ 1920's ] - Bauhaus Movement and Paperfolding
[ 1943 ] - Sadako Sasaki born
[ 1955 ] - Yoshizawa's exhibition in Amsterdam
[ 1958 ] - Founding of the Origami Center
[ 1967 ] - World's first origami society established in the UK
[ 1978 ] - Founding of the the Italian Origami Society
[ 1979 ] - Founding of the the Belgian-Netherlands Origami Society
[ 1980 ] - Founding of the Friends of the Origami Center of America
(later Origami USA)
[ 1988 ] - Birth of the O-List
[ 1990 ] - Founding of Japan Origami Academic Society (JOAS)
[ 1993 ] - Founding of the Israeli Origami Center
[ Ancient Egypt ] - Oldest map fold
[ 95 B.C ] - The Invention of Paper
[ Tang Dynasty ] - Chinese Bookbinding
[ Heyan Era ]
- Tato Folds
- Kusudama (Medicine Ball)
- Mecho and Ocho
[ Song Dynasty ] - Chinese Folding Fans
[ Mayan Empire ] - Maya Codices
[ Yung Dynasty ] - Funerary Objects
[ 1490 ] - First illustration of folded boat
[ 1581 ] - Italian Napkin Folding and Waterbomb Base
[ 17th-19th Century ] - Baptismal Certificates and Windmill-Folds in the west
[ Edo Period ] - Recreational origami in Japan
[ 1676 ] - Troublewit
[ 1680 ] - Origami butterflies mentioned in a poem
[ 1682-1717 ] - First References to Origami (Orisue)
and Traditional Folded Cranes (Orizuru)
[ 1734 ] - Japanese Print of Folded Models
[ 1764 ] - Tsutsumi-no Ki (Book of Wrapping) by ISE Sadatake
[ 1797 ] - Hiden Senbazuru Orikata
(The Secret of One Thousand Cranes Origami)
[ C. 1800 ] - Chushingura Orikata
[ 1845 ] - KAYARA-GUSA (Kan-No Mado)
[ Late 19th century ] - Froebelian Folding
[ 1872 ] - Paper Hat Step Folds Published in Scientific American
[ 1886 ] - Published Diagrams for the Flapping Bird
[ 1887 ] - Published Diagrams for the Paper Boat
[ 1898 ] - Lillian Oppenheimer born
[ 1909 ] - Robert Harbin born
[ 1911 ] - Akira Yoshizawa born
[ 1920's ] - Bauhaus Movement and Paperfolding
[ 1943 ] - Sadako Sasaki born
[ 1955 ] - Yoshizawa's exhibition in Amsterdam
[ 1958 ] - Founding of the Origami Center
[ 1967 ] - World's first origami society established in the UK
[ 1978 ] - Founding of the the Italian Origami Society
[ 1979 ] - Founding of the the Belgian-Netherlands Origami Society
[ 1980 ] - Founding of the Friends of the Origami Center of America
(later Origami USA)
[ 1988 ] - Birth of the O-List
[ 1990 ] - Founding of Japan Origami Academic Society (JOAS)
[ 1993 ] - Founding of the Israeli Origami Center
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