Yes, you read it right! This blog post is about the well-known origami. Origami came from the Japanese words "oru" meaning "to fold" and "kami" meaning "paper;" thus, origami is the art of paper folding (There are some internal changes to create the word. You know language.). Origami is a Japanese term; however, its true origin is still vague until nowadays. Some sources in the internet say that origami didn't come from Japan but from China and Europe. Some say that it really originated in Japan. Some say that origami is a mix origin of both Japan and Western countries. For information's sake, I'll state the usual stories I found.
According to JAPANZONE, origami originated in China for it is believed that the first production of paper occurred in China and was folded in the said country back in the first and second centuries. The site also stated that records of origami in Japan was way back in the Heian Period (794 - 1185) wherein origami was a past time activity for the elite people. This is because paper was still a rare commodity that only rich people could afford papers.
According to the website www.facts-about-japan.com, the earliest pieces of origami was found in Europe. They were the photos of paper boats in Tractatus de Sphaera Mundi, a Latin astronomy book by Johannes de Sacrobosco in 1490.
Both Wikipedia and Facts About Japan agreed that the earliest evidence of origami in Japan is a short poem written by Ihara Saikaku in 1680. In his poem, he mentioned that there were paper butterflies in her dreams which symbolized the brides and grooms in Shinto weddings.
I know what you're thinking, dear reader. Yes, origami's origin is such a headache and is a very confusing one.
Enough of those history stuff! I'm weak at History, so let's move on to origami itself. We all know that origami is the art of paper folding, and according to my searches, it's all around the world back then. However, it is more practiced in Japan, making it notable as a Japanese art form. According to Wikipedia, origami has types:
- Action origami - includes inflation to complete the form or moving the paper at its last form (e.g. flapping the wings of an origami bird)
- Modular origami - involves putting together identical pieces to form a larger piece of art
- Wet-folding origami - involves dampening to make gentle and smooth curves easily so that it stays in shape after it dries
- Origami tesselation - an origami that is a collection of figures filling a plane with no gaps; popularized in the 2000's
- Kirigami - actually the Japanese term of paper cutting; was part of origami in the traditional Japanese origami, but it was isolated in another form later on
Our beloved information source Wikipedia listed some more types and innovations on origami, but I won't state it here to avoid further duplication of information and such.
Another thing that you might be interested about. You can read the article about the tradition about the senbazuru, a thousand paper cranes, in which your wish will come true by whispering your wish every time you finish one paper crane. Remember, that's a THOUSAND paper cranes.
Ihara Saikaku - it.wikipedia.org
Action origami - origamidb.stagepics.co.uk
Wet-folding origami - www.demilked.com
Modular origami - www.kuriositas.com
Origami tesselation - lydia.diard.pagesperso-orange.fr
Kirigami - www.omiyageblogs.ca (snowflakes); awesomesgvs.blogspot.com ('I Love U' Kirigami)
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