Akira Yoshizawa (吉澤章 ''Yoshizawa Akira''; 14 March 1911 – 14 March 2005) was a Japanese origamist, considered to be the grandmaster of

origami ) is the Japanese art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a f ...

. He is credited with raising origami from a craft to a living art. According to his own estimation made in 1989, he created more than 50,000 models, of which only a few hundred designs were presented as diagrams in his 18 books. Yoshizawa acted as an international cultural ambassador for Japan throughout his career. In 1983,

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Hirohito awarded him the Order of the Rising Sun, 5th class, one of the highest honors bestowed in Japan.

Life

Yoshizawa was born on 14 March 1911, in Kaminokawa, Japan, to the family of a dairy farmer. When he was a child, he took pleasure in teaching himself origami. He moved into a factory job in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

when he was 13 years old. His passion for origami was rekindled in his early 20s, when he was promoted from factory worker to technical draftsman. His new job was to teach junior employees geometry. Yoshizawa used the traditional art of origami to understand and communicate geometrical problems. In 1937 he left factory work to pursue origami full-time. During the next 20 years, he lived in total poverty, earning his living by door-to-door selling of

tsukudani is small seafood, meat or seaweed that has been simmered in soy sauce and mirin. As a flavorful accompaniment to plain rice, tsukudani is made salty enough to not go bad, allowing high osmotic pressure to preserve the ingredients from microbial ...

(a Japanese preserved condiment that is usually made of seaweed). During World War II, Akira Yoshizawa served in the army medical corps in Hong Kong. He made origami models to cheer up the sick patients, but eventually fell ill himself and was sent back to Japan.. His origami work was creative enough to be included in the 1944 book ''Origami Shuko'', by Isao Honda (本多功). However, it was his work for the January 1952 issue of the magazine '' Asahi Graph'' that launched his career, which included the 12 zodiac signs commissioned by a magazine. In 1954 his first monograph, ''Atarashii Origami Geijutsu'' (New Origami Art) was published. In this work he established the Yoshizawa–Randlett system of notation for origami folds (a system of symbols, arrows and diagrams), which has become the standard for most paperfolders. The publishing of this book helped Yoshizawa out of his poverty. It was followed closely by his founding of the International Origami Centre in Tokyo in 1954, when he was 43. His first overseas exhibition was organized in October 1955 by

Gershon Legman Gershon Legman (November 2, 1917 – February 23, 1999) was an American cultural critic and folklorist, best known for his books ''The Rationale of the Dirty Joke'' (1968) and ''The Horn Book: Studies in Erotic Folklore and Bibliography'' (1 ...

, a leading player in the early years of the origami movement. The exhibition was held at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Felix Tikotin, a Dutch dealer, acted as a liaison. Yoshizawa lent many of his own origami models to other exhibitions around the world. He would never sell his origami figures, but rather gave them away as gifts to people, and let other groups and organizations borrow them for exhibiting. His second wife, Kiyo Yoshizawa, served as his manager and taught origami to the other patients until his death from pneumonia on his 94th birthday.

Technique

Although Akira Yoshizawa pioneered many different origami techniques, wet-folding is one of his most significant contributions. This technique involves slightly dampening the paper before making a fold. Wet-folding allows the paper to be manipulated more easily, resulting in finished origami models that have a rounder and more sculpted look. The ability to create origami with a more realistic appearance was an important advancement in paper folding, since it took models away from the realm of simple crafts and towards true artistic expression. Wet-folding is most often used with thicker paper; normal origami paper is very thin and thus prone to tearing when using the wet-folding technique. Yoshizawa believed the process was the most important part. He was known to say that, "When you fold, the ritual and the act of creation is more important than the final result. When your hands are busy your heart is serene".

Later years

In March 1998, Yoshizawa was invited to exhibit his origami in the Carrousel du Louvre. Although he had previously disliked his contemporaries, he was not opposed to having his photo taken with them. Many of his patterns had been diagrammed by his professional rivals, which angered Yoshizawa when he was younger. However, as he had aged, he found that he now enjoyed the company of his peers. Akira Yoshizawa died on 14 March 2005 in a hospital in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, of complications from pneumonia, on his 94th birthday.

Books

* ''Atarashii Origami Geijutsu'', Origami Geijutsu-Sha 1954. * ''Origami Reader I'', Ryokuchi-Sha 1957 * ''Dokuhon, Vol.1'' (Origami Tokuhon), 1973, * ''Sosaku Origami'' (Creative Origami), Nippon Hoso Kyokai 1984, * ''Dokuhon, Vol.2'' (Origami Tokuhon), 1986 * ''Origami Dokuhon II'' (Origami Reader II), Kamakura Shobo 1986, * ''Origami: Living Nature'', 1996,

References

External links