How to make a paper bowl (Kikuzara)
Paper Bowl (Kikuzara): try all 21 steps in the 3D player. Turn and replay every move. Print the complete diagram sheet or save it as PDF.
The traditional Japanese chrysanthemum dish, with four pleated points around a shallow center, completed in a clean Origami Tutor sequence.
- You need
- One square of thin paper. No glue or scissors.
- Start
- Start colored side up with an edge at the top. Folding the corners in exposes white; the later bird-base folds bring color into the dish.
- Tips
- Keep the four corner tips together at the center.
- Press the guide creases through every layer without opening the corner flaps.
Your model is ready
The side edges are folded in along the kite lines, shaping the four pleated petal points. Gently ease the layers outward from the center to open the shallow chrysanthemum dish. The finished Kikuzara chrysanthemum dish, with its four pleated petal points around the shallow center.
Step-by-step diagrams
Steps 1–6
- 1
Find the middle across
Fold the bottom edge to the top edge, press, and open.
- 2
Find the middle lengthwise
Fold the left edge to the right edge, press, and open.
- 3
Fold the top left corner in
Bring the top left corner to the center, where the two creases cross.
- 4
Fold the top right corner in
Bring the top right corner to the center.
- 5
Fold the bottom right corner in
Bring the bottom right corner to the center.
- 6
Fold the bottom left corner in
Bring the bottom left corner to the center.
Steps 7–12
- 7
Crease a diagonal
Bring the top corner down to the bottom corner, press, and open.
- 8
Crease the other diagonal
Bring the left corner to the right corner, press, and open.
- 9
Turn over
Turn the paper over, keeping a corner pointing up.
- 10
Crease edge to edge
Fold the bottom-left edge up to the top-right edge, press, and open.
- 11
Crease the other way
Fold the bottom-right edge up to the top-left edge, press, and open.
- 12
Turn back
Turn the paper back over, keeping a corner pointing up.
Steps 13–18
- 13
Collapse into a square
Hold the bottom corner. Push the left and right corners in and down so the paper collapses along the creases into a small square, open end at the bottom.
- 14
Crease the left kite
Fold the lower left edge of the top flap to the center line, press, and open.
- 15
Crease the right kite
Fold the lower right edge of the top flap to the center line, press, and open.
- 16
Crease across the top
Fold the top down along the line joining the tops of the two kite creases, press, and open.
- 17
Fold the left edge in (front)
Fold the lower left edge of the front flap to the center line along the guide crease.
- 18
Fold the right edge in (front)
Fold the lower right edge of the front flap to meet it at the center.
Steps 19–21
- 19
Turn over
Turn the model over, keeping the open point below.
- 20
Fold the left edge in (back)
Fold the lower left edge of the back flap to the center line along the guide crease.
- 21
Fold the right edge in (back)
Fold the lower right edge of the back flap to meet it at the center.
- ✓
Finish
The side edges are folded in along the kite lines, shaping the four pleated petal points. Gently ease the layers outward from the center to open the shallow chrysanthemum dish. The finished Kikuzara chrysanthemum dish, with its four pleated petal points around the shallow center.
Fold next
Sanbo ↗
The traditional Japanese offering tray, with a square bowl and two broad side flaps, completed in a clean Origami Tutor sequence.
Star box ↗
The traditional four-point star box, pictured in Japan in 1734, with a colored bowl and white points.
Japanese box ↗
The winged Japanese box recorded in 1902 as La Boite Japonaise, prepared from a square base.
Candy box ↗
An Origami Tutor candy-tray design with a square bowl and four broad, outward-folded rims. Its corner pleats hold the walls together without cuts or glue.