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Isao Honda was born in 1888 and died in 1976.

Isao Honda's book were amongst the first books on Japanese paperfolding to be published in the West (the others being those written by Florence Sakade).

Sources

Obituary written by David Lister

An annotated list of Isao Honda's books written by David Lister which gives more information on each of the titles listed below.

Article in the Origamian of Winter 1967 by Toshie Takahama titled 'Origami in Japan Today.' Noted here for completeness but does not add any information to that given in David Lister's writings.

Isao Honda also wrote other books about subjects other than paperfolding which are not listed on this page.

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Chronology

1908

According to David Lister's article (see above) in 1908 Isao Honda 'travelled to France to study printing techniques, where he stayed for four years. In addition to his studies of printing, Honda studied Western-style painting at the Academie Julien in Paris and also for a time in London at an art school run by a Mr. Cove. At the end of his four years in France and England, Honda toured other European countries and returned home by way of China. In Japan he took up design and made a name for himself.

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1920

According to David Lister's article (see above) 'in 1920, he and a friend opened a high school for girls, with Honda himself as head of arts and crafts.'

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1931

Publication of 'Origami Part 1' (upper) (in Japan in Japanese)

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1932

Publication of 'Origami Part 2' (lower) (in Japan in Japanese)

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Publication of 'Golden Bat Cigarette Packet Handicrafts'.

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1944

Publication of 'Origami Shuko' (in Japan in Japanese). I have not seen a copy of this book but it is, inter alia, said to contain a number of compound animals that are credited to Akira Yoshizawa.

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1957

Publication of 'Origami: Japanese Paperfolding' (in English)

Reissued in the same year as 'Origami: Japanese Paperfolding - Penguin Book'.

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1958

Publication of 'Origami: Japanese Paperfolding - Monkey Book' (in English)

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1959

Publication of 'How to Make Origami' (in English)

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Publication of Origami: Japanese Paperfolding - Fuji Book (in English)

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Publication of Origami: Japanese Paperfolding - Sakura Book (in English)

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Publication of Asahi Origami Club: Pocket Guide to origami: Bunny Book by Isao Honda (in English)

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1960

Publication of Asahi Origami Club: Pocket Guide to Origami: Bow-Wow Book (in English)

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Publication of All About Origami by Isao Honda (in English)

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1961

Publication of Origami Zoo: Animal Book (in English)

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Publication of Origami Zoo: Bird Book (in English)

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1962

Publication of Living Origami Books 1 and 2 (in English)

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1964

Noshi - Classic Origami in Japan (in English)

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1965

Publication of The World of Origami (in English)

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1967

Publication of Origami Folding Fun: Kangaroo Book (in English)

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Publication of Origami Folding Fun: Pony Book (in English)

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Publication of Origami Holiday (in English)

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Publication of Origami Festival (in English)

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1969

Publication of Nihon no Kokoro Dento Origami (Heart of Japan, Traditional Origami) (in Japanese)

In his annotated list David Lister states that 'This is a Japanese translation of the hard-backed edition of “The World of Origami”. It is a hard-backed volume of the same size as the English edition and with 264 pages. Most of the contents are the same, but there are minor changes and rearrangements.'

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