How To Do Japanese Gift-Wrapping

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In Japanese culture, gift-wrapping can be as important as the gift

Japanese-style gift-wrapping, called tsutsumi, uses paper and cloth to create simple but elegant wrappings for gifts, presents and packages. Furoshiki refers to using a large piece of cloth for the wrapping. These techniques are perfect for birthdays, holidays, weddings, or even everyday marketing and shopping.  They also support and promote recycling and recycled goods.

Here is some history, links and videos providing information and tips so you can create these fantastic but simple works of gift-wrapped art for yourself!

Folding & Wrapping in Japan 

origata, origami, tsutsumi and furoshiki

These different actions, all of which manipulate paper or cloth without any cutting, can be used for tsutsumi. The Japanese have a history of economical use of both cloth and paper, and the lack of cutting distinctly sets it apart from European/Western techniques.

If you like the ideas of using recycled wrapping paper, or moving away from the use of desposable paper for packaging, you should give tsutusmi a try!
The concept of wrapping: origata and tsutsumi
The concept of wrapping: origata and tsutsumi. There are many techniques and schools for wrapping, but basically Origata[9], or the art of gift-wrapping, is the action of folding paper without cutting it.
The Japan Forum
When giving gifts or sending presents, it is customary in Japan to accord special care not only to the contents but to the way a gift is wrapped and the wrapping itself.
h2g2 - Origami
Origami is the name now given1 to the art of folding paper. The term itself comes from two Japanese words, oru meaning 'to fold', and kami meaning 'paper'. As an art form, and a hobby, it enjoys worldwide popularity with people of all ages and from all backgrounds and cultures.
David Lister on Noshi
The subject of Noshi is a very large and difficult one. There is quite a lot of information from past ages but considered modern accounts and analyses are hard to come by. There are often, however, brief snippets of information in modern encyclopaedias and collections of Japanese curiosities. I attempted a short account of noshi many years ago (part of an article grandly titled "Paperfolding in Japan"), but I don't seem to have been able to take the subject much further since then.
Tsutsumi Kin-gin: Wraps of Gold and Silver Coins
Tsutsumi kin-gin were wraps of gold and silver coins in Japanese paper (called washi) circulated during the Edo Period. The wraps were marked with the value and the seal of the moneychanger. The tsutsumi kin-gin were unique in that the seal on the wraps carried high credibility and the wraps were not opened to examine the contents.
Furoshiki - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Furoshiki are a type of traditional Japanese wrapping cloth that were frequently used to transport clothes, gifts, or other goods.
Japanese Inspired Fabric Gift Wrapping
A gift wrapped up in attractive fabric is guaranteed to delight and surprise the recipient. Wrapping an object is like dressing it in a costume, and you can impress your recipient with your sense of style. It is also versatile as fabric can wrap just about anything of any shape and size, and the wrapper can be recycled!

Books on Japanese Gift-Wrapping 

I'm a big fan of having a book with instructions and pictures that I can follow for making something fancy. It let's you get it right in a short amount of time without wasting wrapping resources.

Quick and Easy Enchanting Gifts Wrapping 149 Items

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Gift Wrapping: Creative Ideas from Japan

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Gift Wrapping with Textiles: Stylish Ideas from Japan

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Creative Gift Packaging

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Tips and Hints for Japanese Gift-Wrapping 

instructions and guides

Wrap Artist
Akiko Keene, 62, Japanese gift wrapper, interviewed in the Washington Post
Holiday Wrap - Exceptional Gift Wrap Ideas--Japanese Style
You can practice simple and elegant ways to fold paper to create original, personal and dramatic gift wrapping this holiday season.
Decorating : Japanese-Style Wrapping : Home & Garden Television
Learn how to wrap gifts following the Japanese art of gift wrapping. Step-by-step instructions with pictures.
blueskystudio: zen | art | graphics | soul: tsutsumi, the art of wrapping...
In Japan, gift wrapping is an art form, the name for it being tsutsumi... Read on for more about tsutsumi, the Japanese art of wrapping...and to see what's inside...
How To Do Japanese Gift-Wrapping
Japanese-style gift-wrapping is an art, but it is easy, fun and helps keep our planet greener with recycling.
How to wrapping from Shimojima,.co.ltd.
Although wrapping can be presented in many different ways, there are fundamentally only threebasic patterns. When you want to select which one, take into consideration, the shape of the item, which occasion it will be used for, and the presentation you intend to create. It is important, therefore, to thoroughly know the characteristics of the three basic patterns.
Washi-The "orikata" of Japanese wrapping
The "orikata" of Japanese wrapping Washi's Charm as Depicted by Modern Artists.
whipup.net
If you celebrate Christmas, you are probably in the throes of gift-wrapping as we speak. This year, give these Japanese techniques a shot: envelope-style or the slightly more complicated-looking diagonal wrapping.
Washi Paper
We supply you Japanese traditional paper 'Washi' from Japan.
The Japanese Paper Place - Retail and Wholesale Supplier of Fine Japanese Papers
The Japanese Paper Place stocks and distributes, in wholesale and retail, over 2,000 different Japanese papers around the world.

Follow-along Video 

wrapping without cutting

Wrapping without cutting the paper is one of the things that distinguishes the Japanese style of wrapping. Here's how to fold and wrap a box using a sheet of paper and three pieces of tape.

How to do Japanese-style gift wrap

Instructional video for Japanese-style gift wrap. Watch the whole thing before attempting, because I mess up at one point, then correct it. ;D

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curated content from YouTube

Furoshiki - Cloth Wrapping 

the bath cloth gets reborn

Traditionally, furoshiki was a square "bath cloth." You used it to carry your bath items and fresh clothes to the public baths and you carried your wet bath items and former change of clothes home. A very precise but simple method of tying produces a neat carrying bundle.

Furoshiki can be large or small, silk or cotton, plain or fancy, but their main defining characteristic is that they tend to be square.

The use of this type of personal carry-all is something that is being encouraged in Japan as a way of reducing the many tons of plastic trash produced just by shopping bags in that country annually. I think of this as a great companion to a European string marketing bag for people who like to use cloth or resuable bags. The string bag can hold larger items and a furoshiki works for smaller items when doing small errands and grocery shopping
In Focus: How to use "Furoshiki" [MOE]
This incredible PDF is from the Japanese government. They are encouraging the use of furoshiki as a way of reducing the trash produced by the use of plastic bags. Fourteen different ways of using the furoshiki (cloth) to tie tsutsumi (wrappers) are shown.
Furoshiki
Furoshiki is a square piece of cloth, whose name literally means "cloth for the bath." It came into wide use in Edo period (1603-1868) in public bathhouses for spreading on the floor while undressing and for wrapping bathing articles. In other words, the furoshiki started out as the cloth in which people carried their clothes and toiletries, but later it came to be used to carry (or wrap) just about anything.
TextileArts.net textile and fibre art resources - at a tangent>furoshiki
Collected articles on Furoshiki

Buy A Furoshiki 

Here are some traditional and modern Furoshiki cloths. Remember to check the seller notes for size, condition and fiber content as these can vary.

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How To Tie Furoshiki Videos 

Here's a really easy way to learn how to tie a furoshiki. If you've got one already, you can just follow along with these videos.

Furoshiki

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Kakefuda Kyoto - Famous Furoshiki Store

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Ku-Ku FUROSHIKI Purse1 (Cartera1)

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Ku-Ku WRAPPING Furoshiki 1 (Envoltura)

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風呂敷の包み方 二つ結び How to FUROSHIKI wrapping

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風呂敷の包み方〜1〜:How to FUROSHIKI wrapping

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curated content from YouTube

About Japanese Gift-giving Etiquette 

Japanese end of year gifts - oseibo - Japanese gifts - Japanese culture
Japanese gift giving customs - oseibo - the end of the year gifts in Japan - Japanese gifts ideas.
Japan Business Practice and Business Etiquette Tips
The exchange of gifts is an accepted custom in Japan. The gifts do not have to be expensive. Modest gifts with the logo of your company will suffice. Take care, as well, to choose respectable gift-wrapping. It is important that the gift does not include a set of 4 items. The number 4 in Japanese sounds like the word for 'death'.
International Gift-Giving Protocol - from the Netique Gift Boutique
Gift giving customs vary greatly from country to country. What is considered appropriate in France may be entirely inappropriate in Japan. How do you know that you are not making a cultural "faux pas" when giving a gift to your top international client?
Gift Wrap
In Japan the ritual of opening a gift takes a different form. A gift from anyone outside the immediate family is never opened in the sight of the guest who brought it. It is opened only after her or his departure, and a note of appreciation is then written and sent.

Wrapping Up - comments and feedback 

Japanese gift-wrapping and gift exchange experiences

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