As many of you may already know, origami is an artistic modality created and developed by Japanese culture.
Because it is so beautiful and easy to learn, at least the most basic origami, it has spread all over the world and gained followers everywhere.
I myself have been enchanted by this type of work many times and even practiced it when I was younger.
As time went by, I ended up putting origami aside and forgetting the things I could do.
Today, with this article suggested by the reader Hitsugaya KaoroI was able to recall good memories about origami and bring them to the readers of Japanese languagesomething beyond the Japanese language.
Article Summary
What is Origami?
Origami in Japanese Culture
History
As I found a lot of information on the internet, I decided to split this article into two parts. The aim is to make it more enjoyable and less tiring to read.
Hover over the kanji to see their pronunciation and meaning.
What is origami?
In short, the origami is the Japanese art of paper folding.
The aim is to create all kinds of objects or animals from a square piece of paper with no cutting required.
Despite this, the art of origami is very flexible, allowing pieces of paper to be cut and glued together to achieve the desired goal.
It is also permitted to use papers in shapes other than square.
To the Japanese language loversThe word origami is made up of two other words in Japanese 折り and 紙.
Since kanji can be read differently, the word 折り紙 ends up being read as origami.
Origami and Japanese culture
The relationship between origami and Japanese culture is something very simple and curious. They say that when someone manages to make a thousand origami, they have a wish come true.
I think this is another factor that encourages the propagation and development of new techniques, as well as having fun, of course.
Summing up the story
In practically all the material I've researched on the internet, I haven't found a specific date for the beginning of this art.
But most agree that origami began to appear in Japan's Edo period, between 1603 and 1867.
For early practitioners, the big problem was paper, since it was an expensive and hard-to-find artifact.
But time passed and science discovered simpler ways of producing sheets of paper, which led to paper becoming much more affordable.
In times like these, the techniques were passed down from generation to generation by Japanese families.
This eventually turned the art of origami into a cultural heritage among the Japanese.
From what I've found in my research, it wasn't until 1845 that the first book containing various models of origami, showing step by step how each piece was folded and produced.
As a result, the art of origami became even more popular in Japan and was adopted as a recreational activity by the Japanese.
In the next article, The many faces of OrigamiIn this article, you'll find a lot more information about the modalities, their masters and where to find more information about the Japanese art of paper folding.
To the next.
Image credits belong to David Yu.