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Last updated 23/1/2025

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Introduction

According to History of Origami - Kyushu University 'The designer of these complex models is Gido, a Buddhist monk in Kuwana who had an alias Rokoan. His works caught the attention of a man named Akisato Rito in Kyoto. He was a writer widely known for his work 'Meisho zue,' a kind of topographical guide of famous sights.To edit this book, Rito selected 48 works from Rokoan's works and gave original names to each one. In addition, to entertain readers, Rito composed comic poems associated with the name of the work.' Although the page contains general references, it does not say where this specific information about authorship is derived from.

The Metropolitan Museum in New York attributes its copy to Shimokobe Shusui (died c 1797/8) rather than either of the above.

According to notes by Everett Gloe to his copy of the ms (now in the collection of the British Origami Society) 'The Colophon, by the Kyoto publisher Yoshinoya Ihachi, notes that 'a Second Series is planned, with shapes of flowers, birds and beasts, insects and fish', but this volume seems never to have appeared.'

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1966

Volume 6, Issue 3 of 'The Origamian' for Autumn 1966 contains a letter from Toshie Takahama, looking for an old book, the 'Tsuru Hyakutai'.

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Vol 7: Issue 1 of 'The Origamian' for Spring 1967 contains an article, 'On Early Japanese Origami Books' written by Toshie Takahama, mentioning the 'Sembazuru Orikage' (sic).

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1969

Information about the Senbazuru Orikata is also found in Isao Honda's book 'Nihon no kokoro dento origami', which was published by Japan Publications in Tokyo in 1969.

Inter alia Honda says, roughly translated: 'This book was published by Akisato Rito, author of 'Shokuko Meishi Zue' (Illustrated Guide to Famous Places in Various Provinces) who came up with the idea of compiling it after seeing the plan of each masterpiece during a pilgrimage. He gave each of the 52 origami works a name based on their geisha name and even included his own kyoka (comic poems). The geisha name for the folding diagram below is 'Lightning' and the kyoka is 'Lightning, yesterday was the East, today in the West garden I am enchanted by the colour of the Vermillion Bird'. The extremely vulgar, leisurely kyoka poems that accompany each and every design give the book as a whole an air of vulgarity ...'

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The Work - 1797

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Crease pattern for the Paper Crane

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Paradise Cranes

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Tethered Boats

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One Hundred Cranes

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