How To Do Japanese Gift-Wrapping

Folding & Wrapping in Japan 

origata, origami, tsutsumi and furoshiki

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!

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.

Furoshiki - Cloth Wrapping 

the bath cloth gets reborn

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

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.