The Japanese Art Of Origami,

is difficult enough,

even more so when you practice it in miniature, which Naoki Onogawa does, orizuru, is one of the most common motifs found in origami, Onogawa folds miniature orizuru whose wingspan is just 1 cm

and he folds hundreds of them, from a young age, he has been obsessed with origami, spending hour after hour folding single pieces of paper into different objects, Orizuru typically are a symbol of peace, but for Onogawa, they hold a slightly different meaning: prayer. When the March 11th earthquake and tsunami struck the Tohoku region, Onogawa was still a student. But when he visited the Rikuzentakada area the following year, he was struck by the destruction and devastation. It was this experience that prompted the artist to begin making miniature paper cranes as a symbol of prayer,

he attaches them together in branch-like forms as if they were bonsai trees,

Onogawa folds all of his miniature orizuru by hand, a process that is both repetitive and meditative, the resulting sedge of cranes, yes that is the word for a group of cranes, makes them look as if they are about to take flight,

Naoki Onogawa is currently showing new works pictured here in an exhibition titled “folklore” at the Setouchi City Museum of Art. The exhibition is up through May 5, 2021 but you can also keep up with the artist on Instagram, what an amazing piece of art work.