History
Paper was first invented by Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty in China. In the 6th century, Buddhist monks carried paper to Japan. The earliest document showing paper folding is a picture of a small paper boat in an edition of Tractatus de sphaera mundi from 1490 by Johannes de Sacrobosco. However it is very likely that paper folding originated much earlier that that in China and Japan for ceremonial purposes. In China, traditional funerals include burning folded paper, most often representations of gold nuggets (yuanbao). It is not known when this practice started, but it seems to have become popular during the Sung Dynasty (905-1125 CE). In Japan origami butterflies were used during the celebration of Shinto weddings to represent the bride and groom, so ceremonial paperfolding had probably already become a significant aspect of Japanese ceremony by the Heian period (794–1185) of Japanese history.
It is possible that paper folding came to Japan from China when paper was introduced but there is no evidence for this. The paper folding of China has typically been of objects like dishes, hats or boats rather than animals or flowers of Japan. The Japanese treasure ship model is probably derived from the Chinese junk model which uses an unusual fold that may have been inspired by the folded sychee, however in general the models of the two countries are quite different.
Read more about this topic: Chinese Paper Folding
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