How to Fold an Origami Yakko-san

Medium level, 18 steps. Traditional. Earliest record: Kindergarten Shoho (Iijima), 1885.

The animated version shows each fold moving, one step per screen. This page shows every step at once.

All 18 steps

Step 1. Start white side up. Fold one corner to the center.
Step 2. Fold the next corner to the center.
Step 3. Fold the next corner to the center.
Step 4. Fold the next corner to the center.
Step 5. Turn the paper over.
Step 6. Fold one corner of the new square to the center.
Step 7. Fold the next corner to the center.
Step 8. Fold the next corner to the center.
Step 9. Fold the next corner to the center.
Step 10. Turn the paper over.
Step 11. Fold one corner of the new square to the center.
Step 12. Fold the next corner to the center.
Step 13. Fold the next corner to the center.
Step 14. Fold the next corner to the center.
Step 15. Turn the paper over. The front has four small squares, each with a slit.
Step 16. Open the left square at its slit and squash it flat into a rectangle. This is a sleeve.
Step 17. Squash the right square the same way for the other sleeve.
Step 18. Squash the bottom square for the hakama. The top square stays closed as the head.
Done. Yakko-san, the footman (Iijima, Kindergarten Shoho, 1885).