The Public Paperfolding History Project

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Last updated 6/8/2024

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The paperfolding of Isao Honda
 

Isao Honda was born in 1888 and died in 1976.

He published several important books on origami in Japanese during the first part of the 20th century and many others in English from 1957 onwards. He created many improved versions of traditional designs and originated the technique of creating compound animals from two bird bases glued together in order to create more realistic designs. He also published books on other subjects which are not listed on this page.

A list of the main sources relied on can be found at the foot of this page. They are referenced within the Chronology in brackets as (DL1) etc.

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Chronology

1908

According to David Lister,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. (DL1)

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1920

According to David Lister 'in 1920, he and a friend opened a high school for girls, with Honda himself as head of arts and crafts.' (DL1)

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1931

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

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1932

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

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Publication of 'Golden Bat Cigarette Packet Handicrafts'.

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1944

Publication of 'Origami Shuko' (in Japanese). This book contains diagrams for several compound designs, including Honda's Peacock. There is no claim of authorship of these designs in the book but Honda later claimed that he originated the technique and that, apart from the compound camel, which is attributed to Yoshizawa, the compound designs in this book were his own. (See entry for 1965 below).

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1957

Publication of 'Origami: Japanese Paperfolding' (in English) (DL2)

Reissued in the same year as 'Origami: Japanese Paperfolding - Penguin Book'. (DL2)

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1958

Publication of 'Origami: Japanese Paperfolding - Monkey Book' (in English) (DL2)

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1959

Publication of 'How to Make Origami' (in English) (DL2)

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Publication of 'Origami: Japanese Paperfolding - Fuji Book' (in English) (DL2)

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Publication of 'Origami: Japanese Paperfolding - Sakura Book' (in English) (DL2)

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Publication of 'Asahi Origami Club: Pocket Guide to Origami: Bunny Book' (in English) (DL2)

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1960

Publication of 'Asahi Origami Club: Pocket Guide to Origami: Bow-Wow Book' (in English) (DL2)

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Publication of 'All About Origami' (in English)

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1961

Publication of 'Origami Zoo: Animal Book' (in English) (DL2)

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Publication of 'Origami Zoo: Bird Book' (in English) (DL2)

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1962

Publication of 'Living Origami Books' 1 and 2 (in English) (DL2)

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1964

Publication of 'Noshi - Classic Origami in Japan' (in English)

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David Lister mentions a series of 3 books produced by Zokeisha Publications of Tokyo and published by Crown Publishers Inc, in New York in 1964 and says 'At the time of publication there was some discussion in “The Origamian” as to whether the books were by Yoshizawa or Honda. They were definitely not by Yoshizawa. Many of the models are traditional, but some of the birds in “My Origami Birds” are the same as those in books by Isao Honda and they may be his work used without his permisssion. On the other hand, Honda shows a mountain fold with a letter “P” beside a dotted line, whereas these books do not, so his authorship is questionable.' Versions of these three books were also published in other countries and languages. (DL2)

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1965

Publication of 'The World of Origami' (in English). There are several places in this book where Honda claims to have originated the idea of folding compound figures and that certain compound designs, the peacock, horse, cat, monkey etc from two squares and the giraffe, alligator and three monkeys, from two equilateral triangles and rhombuses, are his own designs. The 'etc' presumably means that Honda is claiming to be the designer of the other compound figures listed on page 130 as well.

(from the biographical notes on the dust jacket)

From p261

From p252

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Honda also claims that Yoshizawa was his pupil (from the biographical notes on the dust jacket), something that Yoshizawa has denied.

Honda promotes Yoshizawa's book 'Origami Dokuhon', but also, on several occasions, denigrates Yoshizawa's creative work:

From p292

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At several points in the book the author discusses the ethics of using cuts. The chapter on 'The Ideal Modern Origami' includes a section 'The Yeas and Nays about Using Scissors'. in which Honda says:

and

The passage 'some origami experts insist that using scissors in origami is illegal and are most proud that they do not use them in their own works' is probably another reference to Yoshizawa.

In the bibliography, Honda lists Michio Uchiyama's 'Sosaku Origami' and also takes the opportunity to again comment on his frequent use of cuts.

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1967

Publication of 'Origami Folding Fun: Kangaroo Book' (in English) (DL2)

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Publication of 'Origami Folding Fun: Pony Book' (in English) (DL2)

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Publication of 'Origami Holiday' (in English) (DL2)

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Publication of 'Origami Festival' (in English) (DL2)

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1969

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

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.' (DL2)

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Sources

Isao Honda - Obituary written by David Lister (DL1)

Isao Honda - An annotated list of his books (DL2) 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.

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