Folding paper: interesting facts

"Ori" is for "fold", while "kami" means "paper". Despite the fact that paper was invented in China, Japanese people were the first to fold it in order to create different shapes. As this art developed many different variants of folds were invented. The most popular origami figure in the world is "crane".

There is a legend about it in Japan. According to the legend, if you make 1000 paper cranes your wish will come true.

The popularity of this legend appeared due to a story about little Japanese girl who lived in Hirosima in 1945. After the first atom bomb in world history was dropped on the city, people started dying from a strange disease.The girl, Sadako Sasaki, became ill at the age of twelve. She had leukemia. Her friend told her about the legend and Sasaki Sadako started making 1000 cranes wishing to survive. It is said that the girl had managed to do 644 paper cranes before she died.

There are many statues of Sadako Sasaki placed in the world as a symbol of disregard to atom bombs.

Classical origami is supposed to be done using a square sheet of paper without glue or scissors. You can use several sheets of paper for one figure.

One of popular types of origami is modular one. Every module is folded in accordance with classical rules of folding, then the modules are joint together.

Origami is good to people as it: develops creativity; develops fine motor skills; develops spatial intelligence; improves focusing; provides aesthetic pleasure; relives anxiety and calms down.