Akira Yoshizawa

was a Japanese origamist, considered to be the grandmaster of origami. 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 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 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. His origami work was creative enough to be included in the 1944 book Origami Shuko, by . 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. ), 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. 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 where he was hospitalized until his death.

Technique

Although Yoshizawa pioneered many different origami techniques, wet-folding is one of his most significant contributions.

Later years In March 1998, Yoshizawa was invited to exhibit his origami in the Carrousel du Louvre in France. 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.

Yoshizawa died on 14 March 2005 in a hospital in Itabashi, Tokyo, of complications from pneumonia, on his 94th birthday. 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,