Origami

[kazuyama]

I have been dabbling in Origami for some time now, off and on. Many of the pieces I make are modern, but I believe that some are period like the traditional crane. Does anyone know of what shapes and pieces are period for SCA? I know of a special crane meant specifically for events meant as a congradulations type gift. I can not remember the name of it now, but if I remember, the book that taught it placed it about Heian era.

[Saionji Shonagon]

I don't know very much about origami's origins. Shide, the paper streamers used in Shinto ritual, are period, however. This link has a fairly easy how-to:

www.nihonbunka.com/shinto/shime.htm

[kazuyama]

Bummer. I've been teaching the children at the events a few different origami shapes, and recently some people have been asking me to teach more about it. I'd really prefer to do shapes that I knew were period.
Interesting links, thanks for sharing them

[Saionji Shonagon]

Congratulations. You have just volunteered to research it. ;-D

[kazuyama]

Yes, apparently I have. I have a feeling it will be a fun search too

[Saionji Shonagon]

Good hunting. A cursory sniff on Google turned up an awful lot of sites that parrot each other.

[kazuyama]

Yes I know. Most of the sites also brought up instructions but no dates or periods. I've gotten that a lot of period origami would probably be boxes and vases, with many of the shapes that we know of being used in the late 1700's. Hopefully with a little more research I can find some useful resources out there

[laurentk]

The Mythbuster's episode "Folding Paper Seven Times", they mention that origami was invented in China about 1000 AD. (Edit: Rewatched the episode and they actually say "first century AD").

However, that's all they say. No references, no people, and no examples, so this may confuse the issue further.