About — Harada Eigo Origami

Why I made this site

Some years ago, when I was abroad, I taught origami to a group of young children. When a crane or a samurai helmet appeared from a single sheet of paper, their eyes lit up — “Again!” “Let’s make this one next!” To my delight, several of those children still enjoy origami as a hobby today.

Origami brings smiles even when you don’t share a language. Just folding together is a wonderful way to make friends with people from other countries.

I also sometimes teach “origami English” lessons in my classes. Listening to “Fold it in half” and “Turn it over” while folding gets every student involved — even those who usually find English hard — and these lessons are always a big hit.

I wanted to share this joy with more people, so I made this animated origami guide in both Japanese and English. Enjoy origami at home, in class, and with friends around the world.
— Takashi Harada, Harada Eigo

What makes it special

A real fold simulator

The animations are not drawings. We built an origami simulator that calculates every fold — where each layer of paper goes and in which order the layers stack — so you can see exactly how the paper moves.

Simple English

Every step is written in simple English. Origami words are linked to our glossary with animated examples and audio, so you learn the language of origami as you fold.

Print and fold

Print the diagrams (PDF), practice sheets with crease lines, and patterned paper. Free to use at home and in class.

About the models

The models are traditional Japanese folk models and original models designed for this site. All diagrams, step breakdowns and texts are our own.

For teachers

Use “Save as video” to put an animated, captioned fold into your slides. See also our origami phrases for class.

Credits

Harada Eigo haradaeigo.com
https://www.haradaeigo.com/
Harada on X (Twitter) @slangjiten

Sister sites

Japanese Culture NaviExplain Japanese culture in English — 1,200+ entries with audio English Teacher's ToolboxFree classroom tools: roulette, timers, bingo and more World Holidays NaviWorld and Japanese holidays explained in English, with worksheets Tadoku Best2,000+ graded English readers with audio

Contact

Questions, ideas and model requests are welcome. Please use the contact form (in Japanese).

Contact form Follow on X