The history of origami An exploration of the history of origami

The history of origami An exploration of the history of origami

Paper art has a long history of development. When paper was truly created, paper art was born along with the progress of human civilization. Human beings are always good at using various simple things around them to process them with wisdom and turn them into highlights that embellish life. While tempering human beings themselves, it also shows human beings' worship of nature and their understanding of the mutual interdependence of all things. Today, we will take a closer look at the history of origami, a branch of human paper art, but it also has a different flavor. Around the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, the Chinese created the earliest real paper. Since early paper was of low quality and low in output, it was obviously not suitable for folding. There is no record of origami in literature and unearthed cultural relics, so it is unclear when origami originated. This has also become indirect evidence that many Japanese people today believe that origami originated in Japan.

“The Father of Paper”—Cai Lun

Paper first appeared in Japan in the sixth year of Emperor Yangs reign in the Sui Dynasty. The versatile Goguryeo monk Tan Zheng introduced the papermaking technology to Japan. Tan Zheng himself was also called the "Paper God" by the Japanese. Since then, origami has quickly emerged in Japan and has been widely used in Buddhist rituals. Around 1200 AD, relatively complex paper models appeared in Japan. At that time, there was a popular etiquette among Japanese samurai, exchanging their swords and paper flowers folded with a special folding method to prove friendship. Paper crafts are also used to celebrate weddings. During the Muromachi Shogunate period, paper became a cheap commodity, and origami began to spread to all walks of life. During this period, during Japans traditional festival Dolls Day, mothers began to fold various paper dolls for sacrifices, and it has remained popular to this day. However, in Japan, the earliest records of origami cultural relics are also after the 18th century. Some ukiyo-e works from the Edo period reflect the situation of origami in Japan. In 1797, Yoshitsune, a monk from Kuwana City Enji Temple in Mie Prefecture, wrote the worlds first origami book, "The Secret Thousand-Feathered Crane Origami" and published it.

Secret Thousand-Feathered Crane Folding Form

In the middle of the 7th century AD, the Tang Empire became the most powerful and open and civilized country in the world. It was at that time that the art of origami spread to a wider range of countries around the world with the good wishes of the Chinese people. In the tenth year of Emperor Xuanzongs Tianbao reign in the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese army was surrounded by the Arab army and the Turkic coalition in the Battle of Talos. About 20,000 soldiers were captured, including many papermaking craftsmen. It was at this time that papermaking technology was introduced to the Muslims. world.

In the following century, the Arabs, who were at the peak of their cultural heyday, independently developed the art of origami. Their greatest contribution to origami was to apply European geometric principles to origami and use origami to study geometry. This is the key to origami. The beginning of integration with mathematics. However, due to religious reasons, the Arabs who prohibited idol worship did not allow origami people. In Japan at the same time, paper puppets were the main form of origami. The Moors entered Europe in the 8th century AD and spread advanced culture and science to the Iberian Peninsula, which was still under the barbaric rule of the Visigoths. It was at that time that Europeans first learned origami.

The Spaniards are very fond of the art of origami they learned from the Moors, and have developed it into a part of their own culture. It has even spread to the vast Spanish colonies. Todays enthusiasm for origami in Argentina began during the Spanish rule. Ismael Adolfo Cerceda, who was born in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, was originally a famous actor who performed flying knives. He kept calm through origami, but his talent in origami made him one of the few founders of modern origami in the West. And it inspired more Argentinians to learn origami. Starting from the 19th century, origami and natural science also came together and began to become a tool for teaching and scientific research in the West. Laszlo Moholy Nagy of the Bauhaus School of Architecture created the method of using origami for architectural design. Friedrich Froebel, the founder of preschool education and an outstanding German education master, believed that origami can inspire wisdom very well, and combined origami with his own educational theory. In the worlds first kindergarten he founded -; Origami classes were offered in Brandenburg kindergartens, and this practice was later spread all over the world. Solving some of the mathematical mysteries discovered in the process of origami has developed into a branch of modern geometry. Robert Harbin, the first president of the British Origami Association and a famous South African magician, used origami in his magic performances. His book "Paper Magic" published in 1956 became popular in the West, both for magic and origami. It had a very big impact.

Paper Magic

Around the late 19th century, the first international origami academic conference was held in Paris. Later, the second and third meetings were held in Argentina and New York respectively. From the late 19th century to the 20th century, it was a period of rapid development of modern origami. Many great origami masters appeared, such as Akira Yoshizawa and Isao Honda from Japan, as well as Ligia Montoya and Adolfo Cerceda from the West. Akira Yoshizawa, who is regarded as a "national treasure art master" in Japan, created a large number of origami works full of artistic charm and innovative spirit around 1950, which completely changed the worlds view of origami. Together with Sam Randlett from the United States, he developed a set of internationally accepted terminology for origami illustrations, so that origami can be easily communicated through illustrations without textual barriers. Under his influence, Westerners became more enthusiastic about origami, and many countries quickly established their own origami associations. In the 1980s, Akira Yoshizawa, who was entering his twilight years, invented the wet folding method. He wetted the paper before starting to fold it, and then dried it after forming it. This method greatly improved the accuracy of origami, making some previously seemingly Folding methods that are difficult to complete become possible, and origami enters a new realm.

Aki Yoshizawa