Modern Origami

By Dr. James Minoru Sakoda

Clear instructions, diagrams, drawings, and photographs help you complete over 60 fascinating projects — from the relatively simple four-point star, water lily, and sitting crane to the more complex ballet dancer, Egyptian cat, and dachshund. Challenging subjects for intermediate and advanced paperfolders. Over 500 black-and-white illustrations. New Preface by author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Jun 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9780486149028

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Copyright

Copyright © 1969, 1997 by James Minoru Sakoda.

All rights reserved under Pan American and International Copyright Conventions.

Published in Canada by General Publishing Company, Ltd., 30 Lesmill Road, Don Mills, Toronto, Ontario.

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 1997, is a revised edition of the work first published by Simon and Schuster, New York, in 1969. The Preface to the Dover Edition and the three revisions to the SST model have been prepared specially for this edition, and the bibliography and the index have been supplemented and revised.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sakoda, James Minoru, 1916—

Modern origami / James Minoru Sakoda.

p. cm.

Originally published: New York : Simon and Schuster, 1969.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

9780486149028

1. Origami. I. Title.

TT870.S27 1997

736’.982 – dc21

97-22876

CIP

Manufactured in the United States of America

Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501

Preface to the Dover Edition

IS IT STILL SIGNIFICANT?

It has been more than twenty-five years since Modern Origami was first published, a lapse of time which presents a good opportunity to review the book’s continued relevance. One might question, for example, whether the term modern is still applicable today. Has this book become merely a collection of old foldings, which has no particular significance and which can be easily replaced by the many new origami books now available, some of which have more complicated models requiring hundreds of steps each?

MODERN ORIGAMI

The term modern was selected because the style of folding attempted to emphasize the beauty of the straight line and of geometric forms. In this sense it was reminiscent of modern art. Its emphasis of the rectilinear was aided by the fact that the folding process almost invariably produced straight edges. The traditional Japanese crane, which with its straight lines is extremely attractive, then stood as testimony that a modern approach could make sense for origami.

In this way, modern origami contrasts with the style of a folder such as Akira Yoshizawa, who tends to seek beauty in rounder edges and in forms created by a more sculptural approach. Many people still prefer Yoshizawa’s approach, of which he is a recognized master, and find difficulty in seeing beauty in the combination of straight lines to depict flowers, animals, insects, birds, and human figures, which are often complex and rounded in shape. In this sense Modern Origami’s approach suffers a fate similar to that of modern art, and the title is still appropriate.

BEAUTY IN GEOMETRIC FIGURES

I should explain the kind of figure I was trying to make when the book was written. The model was to be not just the likeness of a real object, but to be instead a form which had enough of the essential features of that object to make it both recognizable and attractive. To achieve this I found it desirable to eliminate extra details such as the crooks in legs, and to give up any attempt to show the roundness of a swan’s neck, for example. It was more important to try to put together an attractive collection of lines, and to create long straight and sharp edges, as in the case of the standing crane (p. 106). I also followed Kosho Uchiyama’s principle of avoiding force and waste.

It was my hope that the completed figure would make some kind of impression on the viewer. The first creation which I saw as artistic was the giraffe (p. 70), which I thought was a proud creature with its head held back. For the praying mantis (p. 108), the final bending of the neck and head upward gave the figure an attitude of alertness and readiness to pounce on an insect. The standing crane has its neck tilted back and its head and beak facing upward in an alert position. Fred Rohm referred to the mouse (p. 86) as a perky mouse. The roadrunner (p. 110) is clearly in a running position. Modern Origami proved that even with straight lines and sharp bends it is possible to show the gracefulness of a swan or to convey the gentleness of a nun.

USE OF FOIL PAPER

Early on in my folding career, around the early 1950s, foil wrapping paper began to appear and become plentiful at Christmas time. I tried it out for folding, and found it superior to normal origami paper. For me, two qualities were desirable in the folding material: one was flexibility, which paper provided, and the other was strength and the ability to hold creases closed, which was provided by the metallic foil, for figures folded with paper tended to open out unnecessarily. I also found that the thin, embossed foil wrapping paper worked very well for intricate work, such as folding the narrow legs of the standing crane or the legs of insects. Christmas wrapping papers had the added attraction of their colorful designs, which could be selected for use with different figures. Foil paper also was shiny on the foil side, allowing any light that reflected on the folded surfaces to color the model with bright and dark portions. Dust and dirt could also be easily wiped off of the foil.

In the last dozen years foil paper as wrapping paper has virtually disappeared, although I did find some this year: it has been replaced by plastic, which is not suitable for folding. Even so, the use of foil paper is not unusual now, except among purists, who insist that paper folding cannot be properly appreciated except by using a square piece of paper.

Today origami foil paper is available from such places