The Story of the Thousand Cranes: The art of Origami

The Story of the The Art of Origami

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Thousand Cranes

Int

Folding a crane

History of the Japanese

Origami

1

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troduction

Is a type of

Japanese

art where a piece of paper is used to create

Pape

It uses very few different folds and

creases in many different Variations and orders in order to create very different

shapes

Ori gami many decorative shapes or figures.

(Oru) To fold

(kami) Paper

2 3

er Folding

The be

While

Paper

The

Origin of Origami is vague as it is unknown whether it started in China or in Japan.

was first invented around 100BC in China, it spread to Japan during the 6th century.

As there are no historical records of that time,

Japan

became the country accredited for Origami as it is the greater contributor to origami.

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eginnings

Paper

However, during th

Expensive very

was originally

Therefore, it was originally only used in religious ceremonies.

he Japanese

Heian Period

(794-1185)

origami was used in formal

ceremonies.

In weddings, two origami butterflies, called ‘Mecho’ and ‘Acho’ were used to represent the bride and the groom respectively and were attached to Sake (Japanese wine) for decoration.

In addition, durin

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Mass p

Muromachi Period

ng the

(1338-1573)

etiquette rules were established and applied to gift-giving where the

attaching of certain origami shapes to gifts became a custom.

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production

During the Japanese

Edo Period

(1603-1868) the mass production of paper started, leading to a great decrease in its price.

From there on, origami became much more common amongst the people.

Until that p

oint,Origami’s...

folding instructions were passed down from generation to generation orally.

That is, until

The first book on folding

by Sadatake Ise, was published.

The book included instructions to folding 13 different ceremonial shapes.

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The Me

This was followed by the first origami book,

Hiden Senbazuru Orikata (1797),

Secret to folding one thousand cranes.

A lot more books were published about origami from that point on and origami’s popularity increased.

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eiji Origami

The non-trad

In the Japanese

Meiji period (1868-1912)

origami had grown so popular that it was being taught to children in kindergartens and elementary schools.

Previously, paper folding for fun had

Many names

,

including “Orikata”, “Orisue”, “orimono” and “tatamigami”.

However, in 1880, its name officially became “origami”.

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ditional Origami

A major figure who lead to the great spreading of origami internationally is

Akira Yoshizawa who became known as the Father of Origami

In the early 19

50s, he began publishing books with New Origami Models He also created a technique called ‘Wetfolding’ where a paper would be folded while wet in order to create complex models that would otherwise be impossible with dry

paper.

He, along with Samuel Rand

dlett and Robert Harbin

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Modern O

also created a system to use in order to

Instruct

book readers on folding origami clearly.

This system is still now in use.

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Origami

These days, origami is being used as

Decorations

in holidays and celebratory events at people’s houses as well as outside.

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Origami for sc

In the Tanabata celebration

(“Evening of the seventh"), also known as the Star Festival,for example, origami are folded and hung onto

trees with people’s

Wishes In addition, the Noshi is still being attached to gifts as a good luck charm.

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Sadako an

cience

Nowadays,

Mathematical principles are being used in origami.

Robert lang speaks in a TedEd talk about how these methods are being used to create, not only very complex origami figures, but also to create easily

foldable

Scientific Instruments that could be much more easily transported anywhere, including space, then simply be unfolded in the location desired.

nd the Thousand Cranes

Sadako, a two year old at the time, was a survivor of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

However, later on, around 1955 she was diagnosed with leukemia and given, at most, a year to live.

While in hospital, one day, her best friend who went to visit her started folding an origami crane and told her about a certain Japanese

saying

One who folds a thousand cranes can have a wish granted

Sadako was deeply influenced by that saying.

Having seen many die of her disease, Sadako believed that it was impossible for her to recover but she still aimed to fold the thousand cranes, her wish being

Peace

However, Sadako was unable

to complete the thousand cranes and in her honor, her classmates finished folding them for her and raised a national campaign to build a

Statue in memory of Sadako and all of the victims of the bomb.

That statue is still standing in Japan now inspiring many to

Hang thousands of cranes

on her statue in the children’s honor.

http://www.south-ribble.org/origami/pages/about/about.htm http://www.origami.as/Info/history.php http://www.origami-resource-center.com/history-of-origami.html http://www.origamiwithrachelkatz.com/origami/origami.php http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/virtual/origami/origami01.html http://www.origami.gr.jp/Archives/People/OKMR_/history-e.html

By Mayar Sabea

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Origami https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hiden_Senbazuru_Orikata http://www.hibakushastories.org/why-disarmament-education/making-paper-cranes-inmemory-of-sadako-sasaki/