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Origami

Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding. Origami was introduced to Japan in the 16th Century when it was brought to Japan by Chinese Buddhist monks from China. Hand made paper back then was considered to be a luxurious and expensive item that was available to very few people who were very wealthy. The art was strictly used for ceremonial purposes such as weddings or gifts/tokens. For example Samurais would exchange gifts which was known as Noshi, this form was a paper folded with a strip of dried fish or meat and it was supposedly considered to be a good luck token to the person it was gifted to. Another example would be the Shinto noblemen who would celebrate their weddings by wrapping glasses of sake or rice wine in butterfly forms that had been folded to represent the bride and groom.  To make it more affordable and mass produce paper the Japanese people had developed a special type of paper named ''Washi'' for the purpose of Origami and other things, it was thin and durable which prevented the paper from tearing. When origami became more popular and cheaper any social class could do it no matter how poor or rich they were. There were no written instructions on how to fold origami because it was handed down from generation to generation which became part of the Japanese peoples heritage and culture. In 1797 a book named ''How to fold 1000 cranes'' was published by a man named Akisato Rito which was the first book to have written instructions on how to fold a paper crane. The paper crane was considered to be a sacred bird in Japan because it was thought that if you fold 1000 paper cranes you would be granted one wish.

History of Origami. 2013. [ONLINE] Available at: http://library.thinkquest.org/5402/history.html. [Accessed 19 May 2013].

The History of Origami in Japan. 2013. [ONLINE] Available at: http://origami.gr.jp/Archives/People/OKMR_/history-e.html. [Accessed 19 May 2013].

BETWEEN THE FOLDS | History of Origami | Independent Lens | PBS. 2013. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/between-the-folds/history.html. [Accessed 19 May 2013].

History - Origami Overview - Virtual Culture - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan. 2013.  [ONLINE] Available at: http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/virtual/origami/origami01.html. [Accessed 19 May 2013].