Since I have been reading up on the pbs website about the Origami DVD – Between the Folds - I thought I’d share an excerpt about the History of Origami with you all. This excerpt has been taken from the PBS website featuring this documentary movie.
History of Origami
What are the origins of the paper folding process we now know as origami? Composed of the Japanese words oru (to fold) and kami (paper), origami has a rich and complex history that spans culture, class and geography.
Classical and Traditional Origami
Paper was first invented in China around 105 A.D., and was brought to Japan by monks in the sixth century. Handmade paper was a luxury item only available to a few, and paper folding in ancient Japan was strictly for ceremonial purposes, often religious in nature.
By the Edo period (1603–1868), paper folding in Japan had become recreational as well as ceremonial, often featuring multiple cuts and folds. It came to be regarded as a new form of art that was enabled by the advent of paper both mass-produced and more affordable. Written instructions for paper folding first appeared in 1797, with Akisato Rito’s Sembazuru Orikata, or “thousand crane folding.” In 1845, Adachi Kazuyuki published a more comprehensive compilation of paper folding with Kayaragusa; by the late 1800s, the term for paper folding had morphed from orikata (“folded shapes”) to origami.
Europe also has a tradition of paper folding that dates back to the twelfth century or before, when the Moors brought a tradition of mathematically based folding to Spain. The Spanish further developed paper folding into an artistic practice called papiroflexia or pajarita. By the 1800s, kindergarten-aged children in Europe and Japan were learning paper folding.
Modern Origami
Traditional origami is characterized by open-access folding patterns and sequences passed down orally or anonymously from generation to generation. Modern origami often features models created by designers. Many of these models are considered copyrightable material or intellectual property. Modern origami often prioritizes a puzzle aspect to the folding, and the challenge of folding a single square of paper without using cuts or glue.
Akira Yoshizawa, who died in 2005 at age 94, is considered one of the progenitors of modern origami. In the 1930s, he developed a system of folding patterns employing a set of symbols, arrows and diagrams. By the 1950s, these patterns were published and widely available, contributing to origami’s global reach and standardization. Yoshizawa and other origami masters formed local and international organizations publicizing the art.
Today, origami has expanded to incorporate advanced mathematical theories, as seen in BETWEEN THE FOLDS. Mathematical origami pioneers like Jun Maekawa and Peter Engel designed complex and mathematically based crease patterns prior to folding, which emphasized the puzzle aspect of origami, with the parameters of using one piece of uncut paper. Artistic origami has also enjoyed a recent resurgence, with abstract paper folders such as Paul Jackson and Jean-Claude Correia.
A timeline of paper folding has been documented and presented by the Origami Swami- Dorothy Engelman. This site is dedicated to collecting interesting tit bits and facts on Origami as an art. I am sure you too will find it very interesting!
The PBS site dedicated to the – Between the Folds documentary- also has a mini game of matching the Crease Patterns (CPs) to the finished model. This is pretty neat and your reward is the ability to downoad any CP of your choice (of the models depicted in the game)! I think this is a brilliant idea and for those of you who are well versed in the folding of CPs you will find this really great! The choices to select from are -
1. Flower Tower (12 fold – decreep method), by Chris Palmer
2. Flower Tower (12 fold), by Chris Palmer
3. PolyPost Regular decagon, by Chris Palmer
4. Acoma Pot 12, opus 555, by Robert Lang
5. Dancing Crane, opus 460, by Robert Lang
6. White-Tailed Deer, opus 550, by Robert Lang
7. One Crease No 2 300, by Paul Jackson
8. Wilbur the Piglet, by Michael LaFosse
9. Vintage Movie Camera, by Erik and Martin Demaine
The People in the documentary…
The Origamists Featured in the movie-documentary are some of the well known faces and names in the art. You can find bios and information about them here – The People.
I hope you find this interesting a read as I did! 
