Origami Shuko may have been another book that suffered the same fate. When we analyzed it with Joan Sallas a few years ago, and he saw that the first pages featured two children holding the imperial flag, his reaction wasn’t surprise but relief, as he understood why the book had disappeared from circulation. Although it had been publishe…
Origami Shuko may have been another book that suffered the same fate. When we analyzed it with Joan Sallas a few years ago, and he saw that the first pages featured two children holding the imperial flag, his reaction wasn’t surprise but relief, as he understood why the book had disappeared from circulation. Although it had been published in 1944 (Honda sometimes stated 1941), no copies remained, and it was presumed that they had vanished in the Tokyo bombing. However, years later, Akira Yoshizawa sent Gershon Legman a photocopy of the entire book. This is the copy now housed in the Museo del Origami in Colonia, the same one we reviewed with Joan Sallas. In an email exchange, Joan summarized his view: "A book that starts with the imperial flag of fascist Japan could not have been sold after 1945. Honda might have destroyed them. Or perhaps American authorities forced the publisher to destroy them. Something similar happened with German origami books after losing the war. Yoshizawa swallowed the bitterness, but the resentment lingered. Over the years, he saw the success Honda was achieving while he couldn’t publish a single book abroad." There it was: the key to the mystery of the book's disappearance and the anger Yoshizawa felt as he watched his first significant collaboration vanish.
Thank you for raising this subject here. It is of course possible that Joan Sallas is correct, but as far as I know we have not been able to establish that 'Origami Shuko' was banned by the occupying authorities. What we do know, because Honda says so in the book, is that he had difficulty bringing it to publication in the first place because it fell foul of Japanese censorship. If Joan is correct, then it may be the only origami book to be censored twice by two different governments in the same country!
Origami Shuko may have been another book that suffered the same fate. When we analyzed it with Joan Sallas a few years ago, and he saw that the first pages featured two children holding the imperial flag, his reaction wasn’t surprise but relief, as he understood why the book had disappeared from circulation. Although it had been published in 1944 (Honda sometimes stated 1941), no copies remained, and it was presumed that they had vanished in the Tokyo bombing. However, years later, Akira Yoshizawa sent Gershon Legman a photocopy of the entire book. This is the copy now housed in the Museo del Origami in Colonia, the same one we reviewed with Joan Sallas. In an email exchange, Joan summarized his view: "A book that starts with the imperial flag of fascist Japan could not have been sold after 1945. Honda might have destroyed them. Or perhaps American authorities forced the publisher to destroy them. Something similar happened with German origami books after losing the war. Yoshizawa swallowed the bitterness, but the resentment lingered. Over the years, he saw the success Honda was achieving while he couldn’t publish a single book abroad." There it was: the key to the mystery of the book's disappearance and the anger Yoshizawa felt as he watched his first significant collaboration vanish.
Thank you for raising this subject here. It is of course possible that Joan Sallas is correct, but as far as I know we have not been able to establish that 'Origami Shuko' was banned by the occupying authorities. What we do know, because Honda says so in the book, is that he had difficulty bringing it to publication in the first place because it fell foul of Japanese censorship. If Joan is correct, then it may be the only origami book to be censored twice by two different governments in the same country!