The invention of paper is officially given to Cai Lun in 105 a.D. in China, but it is possible that the technique principle was defined between 247-195 b.C. In the 7th century, fabrication of paper arrives to Korea and Japan.

In spite of being known Dunhuang manuscripts (907-960) in China, which show some kind of sheets folded to make little notebooks and books, there is no documentation about any specific model. There is also no documentation about any model in Korea.

Schools of etiquette in the Muromachi period, in Japan (14th-16th century), were based on Chinese's. The school of etiquette Ogasawara counted with ceremonial and protocolary foldings. Some of these foldings were used as wrappers, including those with a Shintoism relation, giving the same worth to the content as the context.

Japan kept trade relationships with Occident from 1543 until 1639, when it was limited to Holland and China. It would remain closed to the rest of the world until 1868. There is no information about exchange of folding models during the years of commercial period but, maybe, the Chinese junk.

The first documented model in Japan is from early 18th century (crane, Japanese emblematic model; little boat...). Late this century, the book Hiden Sembazuru Orikata appeared. It shows a base sheet with cuttings to make thousands of models of cranes of different sizes joined by slight paper connections. In the middle of 19th century, the book nowadays known with the title Kan-no-mado appears. It shows models and developments created with great skills and beauty, most of them with cuttings.

In oriental tradition, cuts have been always integrated (kirigami).

From 1868, when Japan opened its borderlines to the rest of the world, influences flowed in both ways.

Both, papyrus and parchment, were folded for an utilitarian end (shipment of documents, maps...)

Paper arrives to Islam, in the 8th century, through Samarkand and is there where its usage expands to Baghdad, Asia Minor, North of Africa, Spain and the rest of Europe. Its popularity grew so fast that, in 1035, many objects were wrapped with paper in Egyptian bazaars and in Fez (Morocco), in 1200, the number of working paper mills ascended to four hundred.

Utilitarian foldings (wrappers, little drugstore bags, medicinal plants conservation, boxes, moulds for sweets...) were the most used in the beginning of the history of paper. These foldings could be used some time before with parchment.

In Occident, simbolic folding is almost non-existent, with the exception of the hypothetical folding in the astrological square or the message cards of 19th century.

Folding as leisure and/or artistic, starts in the 17th century. Maybe because it was an economic way of study, practise and education of napkin folding exhibited in aristocratic tables in the last times of XVI and XVII centuries. The first documented foldings as hobby with accordion base or multiform, the same used in napkin folding, support this origin. This textil origin could explain the idea of no cuts in occidental origami.

The first documentation of origami models in Occident is from early 18th century. The book Hocus Pocus improved or Sports and Pastimes shows a multiform folding to make some models without cutting the paper.

There is only one clue that could explain the possible transmission of origami knowledge, between Japan and Europe, before 1868. One illustration from a Dutch book, from 1806, shows for the first time in Occident the Chinese junk. In this period, Japan only had commercial relationships with Holland.

From 1868, when Japan opened its borderlines to the rest of the world, influences flowed in both ways.