Akira Yoshizawa, who died March 14 at age 94, was regarded as the father of modern origami and acknowledged as its greatest living exponent.

Origami – “to fold paper” in Japanese – is thought to have originated in China at about the same time as the discovery of paper at the end of the 1st century AD. The secret of the material’s manufacture was brought to Japan in the early 7th century, where origami was elevated to the status of an art form on a par with painting, in part because its practice could be invested with ceremonial and spiritual significance.

Japan’s cultural isolation meant that for centuries origami was little known in the West, though Tolstoy, among others, had seen its creations. An independent tradition of making models from folded paper had sprung up in Europe, but its secrets were largely confined to professional magicians, such as Harry Houdini. It was Yoshizawa who in the 1950s united the two streams, revolutionizing the art and popularizing it around the world.

Although there were many recognized styles of origami in Japan, Yoshizawa was self-taught, and it was this experience which allowed him to break away from the rigid and sometimes overly complex rules which then governed the art. In particular, he developed a new method of dampening the paper which enabled him to fashion more naturalistic shapes that held their form when they dried. He also insisted on never cutting the paper – as was then common – and on folding the models with his hands raised, instead of on a surface such as a table.

His work, which reflected his perfectionist nature and evident kindness of character, was animate to a degree never before achieved in origami. Owls, dragons, butterflies and cranes – all sprang to life under his fingers, which could even turn a bath mat into a swan. Moreover, the diagrammatic system of lines and symbols he devised allowed for the first time those who did not speak Japanese to learn origami’s forms and methods.

Akira Yoshizawa was born into a family of farmers at Tochigi, central Japan, on March 14, 1911. He moved to Tokyo as a teenager, and after qualifying as a draughtsman found work in a tool-making factory. There he began to teach geometry to other employees by folding paper. Later, he studied for the Buddhist priesthood for two years before opting not to enter a monastery.

Having decided instead to make origami his life’s mission, he endured several decades of extreme poverty, supporting himself as a door-to-door salesman of traditional foods. During the Second World War, he served in the army medical corps in Hong Kong, where he made models to cheer up the patients, before himself falling ill and being sent home to Japan.

His work was first discovered and publicized by a popular magazine, Asahi Graf, in 1951, and its editor thereafter became his champion and helped him secure his first exhibition in Tokyo, where his genius was at once recognized. Then, in 1955, he finally made contact with Gershon Legman, an American enthusiast for paper folding otherwise known for his epochal scholarship on dirty jokes. Legman had heard of his work and had written to him dozens of times, but until then Yoshizawa had lacked the money even to send a reply.

The years after the war had seen a growing appreciation of Japanese culture abroad, partly disseminated by GIs who had been stationed there. By the mid-1950s, origami had gained devotees in the United States and Britain. Legman helped Yoshizawa to have exhibitions in Amsterdam and New York, which gave new impetus to origami’s practice in the West and forged important contacts between its principal practitioners and collectors.

For many years, Yoshizawa worked as a goodwill ambassador for the Japanese government. He was a member of the Order of the Rising Sun, and had been declared a Living National Treasure.

He is survived by his wife Kiyo, whom he married in 1956.