Akira Yoshizawa
was a modern origamist, considered by many in the field to be “the grandmaster
of origami” (Wikipedia: “Akira Yoshizawa”).
But how did he earn this title? I
did some research into the man and his methods to learn what made him so
well-known.
Yoshizawa lived
from 1911-2005, and spent most of his life in Japan. During his lifetime, he designed over 50,000
unique origami sculptures, although only a fraction of them were diagramed in
the 18 books he published (Wikipedia: “Akira Yoshizawa”). The sheer number of designs he made are
enough to make him famous, but it takes a special skill to bring these models
to life.
As you can see
in the above model of a fox, Yoshizawa paid great attention to detail. He added small wrinkles to the paper in order
to give the appearance of textured fur.
According to an online biographical article, Yoshizawa “never used
scissors, glue, or additional embellishments” when creating origami, and this
must have earned him a lot of respect (Hinders 1). In fact, in 1983, the Emperor of Japan awarded
Yoshizawa the Order of the Rising Sun for the recognition of his work (Hinders
1).
Yoshizawa
taught himself everything he knew about origami (Hinders 1). For much of his life, he immersed himself in
his chosen art, even though he barely earned enough money to live (Stein 1). He was also “frequently inspired by nature,”
and did his best to replicate the beauty he saw in the natural world (Stein
1). In my view, the immersion and
passion demonstrated by Yoshizawa’s lifestyle is typical of the highly creative
individual. Without this kind of devoted
interest in a creative domain, how can a person expect to achieve the level of
fame and accomplishment that Yoshizawa reached?
This is particularly true of a somewhat obscure and non-lucrative art
like origami.
In the above
photo, you can see Yoshizawa with some of his creations. I am particularly interested in the large
models, such as the dog to his right, and the brown gorilla. While I wasn’t able to find much information
about Yoshizawa’s methods, I was able to find a lot of diagrams for re-creating
his work, and I have some ideas about how they were originally discovered. First of all, it seems like an easier task to
make a new origami sculpture from a large sheet of paper, rather than a small sheet. I think Yoshizawa must have done much of his
initial work using large sheets of paper, in order to more easily visualize the
final result.
Furthermore,
many of Yoshizawa’s diagrams show that almost any shape can be achieved through
a number of small, simple folds. The
final result always looks complex and beautiful, but when you look at the
individual steps to create it, each fold is relatively simple. I think this is part of the art of origami,
and also Yoshizawa’s genius: that he was able to use simple methods to
construct such a multitudinous array of designs.
Works Cited:
Hinders, Dana. “Akira
Yoshizawa Origami Biography.” About.com. n.p. Web. 8 April 2014 < http://origami.about.com/od/History-Of-Origami/a/Akira-Yoshizawa-Origami-Biography.htm>.
Stein, Sadie. “Paper
Moon.” The Paris Review Daily. 14 March 2014. Web. 8 April 2014 < http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/03/14/paper-moon/>.
Wikipedia: “Akira
Yoshizawa,” 8 April 2014.
Image URLs:
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Fox.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOUXvW6aBhFjxkpN9kVquNE7TXdcnv_6LXZc23lrB0zHnmieA6PPPbk3xukMTqYqI2eJPHrc1uOzhE8P-Ke56_cuc1HHYGsRFvyhyzn5HnNbWd2_FhlSu-G1w-9_PjF0knHqhM3fYJpYzH/s1600/1.jpg
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