Folding a thousand of cranes will have your heart?s desire come true

Added: 12/27/2005

Perhaps, everyone has experienced the pleasure of making paper airplanes or ships in his childhood and never thought that it is the art of paper folding. In fact, you can create any object by simply folding the paper and it will be a form of art, called origami. You can make origami gifts to your friends that they will keep them as souvenirs. It is also a joy to make something together with your children.

Origami is the art of paper folding and actually a very simple art. There are only a small number of folds in origami, though they are combined in a variety of ways to created intricate and diverse designs. Generally, these designs are based on the folding of a square sheet of paper without cutting it, which sides can be of different colors.

While the historians argue about the origins of paper folding art (there are three countries that are likely to invent origami - Japan, Korea and most likely China), the earliest known Japanese origami is probably a ceremonial paper folding, such as noshi that started in the Muromachi era (1392-1573) and the most famous origami design is the Japanese crane. The ancient legend says that anyone, who folds one thousand paper cranes, will have a cherished wish come true.

The origami crane has become a symbol of peace due to this legend, and due to a life story of a young Japanese girl, named Sadako Sasaki. Sadako was exposed to the radiation of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima being an infant, and it took its inevitable toll on her health. By the time she was twelve, 1955, she was dying of leukemia. Hearing the legend, she decided to fold one thousand cranes so that she could live. Sadako folded six hundred and forty four cranes before she died. Her classmates continued folding cranes in honor of their friend. Sadako was buried with a wreath of thousand cranes. While her effort did not extend her life, her friends made a granite statue of Sadako in the Hiroshima Peace Park: a young girl, standing with her hand outstretched, a paper crane flying from her fingertips. Every year the citizens of Hiroshima decorate the statue with thousands of wreaths of thousand origami cranes.

Having the roots deeply in the past, the origami art has been extensively developed and today it is an art of many styles and designs. An origami design can be simple as a paper plane that you probably made in your childhood or complicated, such as a miniature paper version of the Eiffel Tower. The choice of origami paper depends on the complexity of the design. Sometimes the most complex origami models are folded from foil instead of paper that allows to fold the paper in more layers. The modern origami has deviated from traditional techniques of the past, and models can be constructed from other materials. It is interesting to note that the Japanese do not consider origami as a form of art, but regard it as an integral part of their life and culture.

Reading the books of Akira Yoshizawa, Peter Engel, Tomoko Fuse and Robert Harbin will be interesting for those, who want to know more about origami, as well as want to learn the paper folding techniques. An excellent book for your origami research is The Complete Book of Origami: Step-by-Step Instructions in Over 1000 Diagrams, Dover Publications, Mineola, NY. Copyright 1988 by Robert J. Lang. Browsing http://www.origami-instructions.com/ will let you familiarize yourself with the origami history, instructions and origami for kids. There is a national origami group, called Origami USA. Based in New York City, they sell all sorts of origami related materials (books, paper, etc.), publish a great newsletter and hold a yearly two-three day convention in New York. Membership dues are twenty five dollars per year.

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