Akira Yoshizawa was a Japanese origamist, considered to be the grandmaster of origami.
He is widely recognized for his work in raising origami from a craft to a living art form.
Yoshizawa devised many new folding techniques during his lifetime.
Yoshizawa acted as an international cultural ambassador for Japan throughout his career.
When he was a child, he took pleasure in teaching himself origami.
He moved into a factory job in Tokyo when he was 13 years old.
His new job was to teach junior employees geometry.
Yoshizawa used the traditional art of origami to understand and communicate geometrical problems.
In 1937 he left factory work to pursue origami full-time.
During World War II, Akira Yoshizawa served in the army medical corps in Hong Kong.
His origami work was creative enough to be included in the 1944 book Origami Shuko, by Isao Honda.
In 1954 his first monograph, Atarashii Origami Geijutsu (New Origami Art) was published.
The publishing of this book helped Yoshizawa out of his poverty.
Although Akira Yoshizawa pioneered many different origami techniques, wet-folding is one of his most significant contributions.
This technique involves slightly dampening the paper before making a fold.
Akira Yoshizawa died on 14 March 2005.
