HISTORY OF THE ORIGAMY

The history of origami followed after the invention of paper and was a result of paper's
use in society. Independent paper folding traditions exist in East Asia and Europe, and it
is unclear whether these evolved separately or had a common source.

Origins and the traditional designs

The Japanese word "Origami" itself is a compound of two smaller Japanese words: "ori"
(root verb "oru"), meaning to fold, and "kami", meaning paper. Until recently, not all
forms of paper folding were grouped under the word origami. Before that, paperfolding
for play was known by a variety of names, including "orikata", "orisue", "orimono",
"tatamigami" and others. Exactly why "origami" became the common name is not
known; it has been suggested that the word was adopted in the kindergartens because
the written characters were easier for young children to write. Another theory is that the
word "origami" was a direct translation of the German word "Papierfalten", brought into
Japan with the Kindergarten Movement around 1880.

Japanese origami began sometime after Buddhist monks carried paper to Japan during
the 6th century. The first Japanese origami is dated from this period and was used for
religious ceremonial purposes only, due to the high price of paper.

A reference in a poem by Ihara Saikaku from 1680, which describes the origami
butterflies used during Shinto weddings to represent the bride and groom.[3] Samurai
warriors are known to have exchanged gifts adorned with noshi, a sort of good luck
token made of folded strips of paper, which indicates that origami had become a
significant aspect of Japanese ceremony by the Heian period (7941185).

In 1797 the first known origami book was published in Japan: Senbazuru orikata. There
are several origami stories in Japanese culture, such as a story of Abe no Seimei making
a paper bird and turning it into a real one.

The earliest evidence of paperfolding in Europe is a picture of a small paper boat in

Tractatus de sphaera mundi from 1490. There is also evidence of a cut and folded paper
box from 1440. It is possible that paperfolding in the west originated with the Moors
much earlier; however, it is not known if it was independently discovered or knowledge
of origami came along the silk route.
The modern growth of interest in origami dates to the design in 1954 by Akira
Yoshizawa of a notation to indicate how to fold origami models. The Yoshizawa-
Randlett system is now used internationally. Today the popularity of origami has given
rise to origami societies such as the British Origami Society and OrigamiUSA. The first
known origami social group was founded in Zaragoza, Spain, during the 1940s.

The Chinese word for paperfolding is "Zhe Zhi" (), and some Chinese contend that
origami is a historical derivative of Chinese paperfolding.