The is a paper model that is usually (although not always) created by sewing multiple identical pyramidal units together using underlying geometric principles of polyhedra to form a spherical shape. Alternately the individual components may be glued together. (e.g. the kusudama in the lower photo is not threaded together) Occasionally, a tassel is attached to the bottom for decoration. The term ''kusudama'' originates from ancient Japanese culture, where they were used for

incense Incense is an aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremonial reasons. It ...

and

potpourri Potpourri ( ) is a mixture of dried, naturally fragrant plant materials used to provide a gentle natural scent, commonly in residential settings. It is often placed in a decorative bowl. Etymology The word "potpourri" comes into English from ...

; possibly originally being actual bunches of flowers or herbs. The word itself is a combination of two Japanese words ''kusuri'' ("medicine") and ''tama'' ("ball"). They are now typically used as decorations, or as gifts. The kusudama is important in

origami ) is the Japanese art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a ...

. Traditional kusudama can be made from origami flowers, such as the traditional origami lily. Instead of using string, many modern origami kusudama take the form of modular origami, where folded units are typically assembled by inserting flaps into pockets of adjacent units. Although some origami purists frown upon threading or gluing the units together, others recognize that early traditional Japanese origami often used both cutting (see thousand origami cranes or senbazuru) and pasting, and respect kusudama as an ingenious traditional paper folding craft in the origami world. Modern origami masters such as Tomoko Fuse have created new kusudama designs that are entirely assembled without cutting, glue, or thread except as a hanger.

Waritama

Kusudama can also be used to refer to a type of decoration that is displayed and split open for celebrations. This decoration is more specifically called ''waritama'' (割り玉; lit. split ball). Waritama are large, spherical decorations that split in half to release confetti, streamers, balloons, etc. They can be used for a variety of events, including school events, graduation ceremonies, enterprise founding anniversaries, and sports competitions. An emoji depicting a waritama, called ''Confetti Ball'' (🎊), was introduced with the October 2010 release of

Unicode 6.0 Unicode or ''The Unicode Standard'' or TUS is a character encoding standard maintained by the Unicode Consortium designed to support the use of text in all of the world's writing systems that can be digitized. Version 16.0 defines 154,998 cha ...

. It is the Emoticons Unicode block: .

Notes and references

External links

OrigamiTube.com Learn how to fold kusudama in motion.

The few good Kusudams with diagrams.

Video tutorial: How to Fold a Japanese Paper Ball (Kusudama)

kusudama by Atelier Puupuu: diagrams of making kusudama

kusudama by Lukasheva Ekaterina many models, diagrams and tutorial

Kusudama by Mikhail Puzakov & Ludmila Puzakova: new models, folding instruction, history, geometry
{{in lang, ru Origami Shinto Shinto religious objects Exorcism in Shinto

Waritama

See also

Notes and references

Further reading

External links