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Last updated 30/3/2025

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It is not clear where Lister obtained his information from. After his death, Lister's books about paperfolding were added to the BOS library. However, there is no record of a book of the title of 'Origami Zukan' in the library catalogue, which suggests that Lister did not actually own a copy but had been told about it by someone else. 'Origami Zukan' just means 'Illustrated Origami Book' so it may not be a title at all, but just a general description. Thus it is possible that the book Lister though was called 'Origami Zukan' was in fact the earlier 'Yoku Wakaru Origami'.

Here is what Lister says:

From Japanese Attitudes to Origami British Origami, undated, 'Kosho Uchiyamas own first book, generally known as "Origami Zukan" was published in 1957, the year following the publication of Akira Yoshizawas "Origami Tokuhon 1". To some extent Uchiyama follows his fathers tradition of cut origami. However, the book also contains some uncut childrens origami and some forward looking new ideas, including an analysis of bases and a forerunner of the later uncut style of folding variously known as "box folding" or "box pleating". (This is a good description of the content of 'Yoku Wakaru Origami'.)

From Jottings on the History of Origami British Origami, dated 7th September, 1998, 'You may have heard that Kosho Uchiyama died last March in his 80s. A Buddhist priest living in a monastery, Uchiyama was of the same generation as Yoshizawa, and shared an interest in Origami. In 1958 he published a colorful book of Origami for children called "Origami Zukan", which was compared at the time with Yoshizawa's "Origami Tokuhon", which was published the previous year, 1957. The difference was that Uchiyama's book contained more cutting than that of Yoshizawa. Although Uchiyama had some fine models, the standard of his folding was not as fine as that of Yoshizawa. Nevertheless, he was a close rival and Kosho Uchiyama went on to publish several more books for adults and children, which (according to the newly prevailing ideas, frowning upon it), contained much less cutting.'

From Isao Honda - An annotated list of his books British Origami, dated 27th October, 2005, '1957 was the same year that “Origami Dokuhon” (in Japanese) by Akira Yoshizawa was published and In the following year, 1958, “Origami Zukan” by Kosho Uchiyama (also in Japanese) was published.'

If anyone knows that 'Origami Zukan' actually existed and can provide me with definite information about it I will be truly grateful.

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