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A GIFT FROM HEAVEN

In 1966, a dinner party was held to celebrate the opening of the Reader’s Digest building in Japan. Many guests from all over the world were invited. On this occasion, Mr Akira Yoshizawa kindly agreed to fold some models of a “Pegasus,” the Reader’s Digest trademark.

Origami pegasuses were placed at the center of each of the 17 dining tables. They were folded from variously colored Japanese paper and were so lively they seemed ready to fly high into the sky. All the guests were fascinated by Mr Yoshizawa’s creations.

It was through this event that I came to know Mr Yoshizawa and learn more about him. His outstanding ability at paper-folding, his strikingly beautiful works, his irrepressible enthusiasm and sincerity for creative origami as well as his peace-loving personality had to be introduced to Digest readers, I believed.

Mr Yoshizawa became interested in origami at the age of four. Brought up in hardship, he nonetheless kept studying and folding paper. He loved nature and observed and studied the movements, skeletal structure and internal organs of live animals. His interest extended to all living creatures on earth. He absorbed and digested all that he studied, then started folding paper with his fingers. He ended up by breathing life into each model with a prayer. He watched and touched his object with utmost care as it changed into a lively creature.

Before computers came into being, he drew detailed diagrams with his own hands and was able to simplify diagrams so that anyone could follow them and fold paper. He understood engineering and was blessed with the ability to pursue artistic beauty.

He was a man of insight and vision. It was in 1969 that Mr L. Stowe, the Digest’s roving editor and a Pulitzer Prize winner, came to Japan and met Mr Yoshizawa. Stowe was deeply impressed and wrote “The Paper Magic of Origami,” thereby introducing Mr Yoshizawa. The article was translated into 13 languages and distributed around the world in 1970.

In 2003, Mr Yoshizawa informed me that he had found the models he had made for his 1955 exhibition in Holland and which had long been thought lost. It was well known that he had been searching for these models for years. They were returned safely to him in 2004 with the cooperation of Mr D. Lister and Mr D. Brill of the British Origami Society. When Mr Yoshizawa opened the box and saw “his beloved children,” he took them out lovingly, one by one, looking so happy that he beamed with joy.

Utsukushii Origami was translated into French and Italian. The beautiful world of Akira Yoshizawa will bring joy and relay heartfelt warmth to all who see his works. He was bound to paper-folding and devoted his entire life to creative origami. He was truly a gift from heaven.

Deep gratitude is also owed to Mrs Kiyo Yoshizawa, who stayed beside him and always lent him her support.

BY HIROKO ICHIYAMA

Former assistant to the Editor-in-Chief of Reader’s Digest in Japan and translator of Origami Museum.