Skip to content
Paper Play

Everyday & decor

Ocho & Mecho butterflies

A pair of paper butterflies that decorate the sake kettles at a Japanese wedding. Both are folded almost alike: fold the wing edges forward for the male (Ocho) and behind for the female (Mecho).

  • DifficultyIntermediate
  • PaperSquare, 15 × 15 cm × 2
  • Steps7
  • About10 min

Why this level: Mostly simple folds, but one move folds only the front layers while the flaps behind swing round to the front.

You need: 2 sheets of origami paper (gold and silver look best)

Preview Preview: checked on screen; real-paper verification is in progress.

Start folding

Story

Ocho and Mecho are a pair of paper butterflies, male and female, one tied to each sake kettle at a traditional Japanese wedding. A Japanese book from 1692, Onna Chohoki, already shows folded paper butterflies on sake kettles. In Japanese, “butterfly” (chō) sounds like the word for “long”, so the pair also wishes the couple a long and happy marriage.

Did you know? Pairs of folded-paper butterflies in gold and silver also became a pattern on Japanese wedding robes, standing for the bride and groom; the Metropolitan Museum in New York has one made in the late 1700s or early 1800s.

Learn more (external sources)

Steps at a glance

  1. 1. Fold into a triangle

    Both sheets white side up, with a corner pointing down. Fold the bottom corner up to the top corner to make a triangle.

  2. 2. Corners up to the top

    Fold the left and right corners of the triangle up to its top point. You get a square standing on a corner.

  3. 3. Turn over

    Turn both over.

  4. 4. Swing out the wings

    Front two layers only: fold the two lower edges to the centre line. The flaps behind swing round to the front and out to the sides as wings.

  5. 5. Turn over

    Turn both over.

  6. 6. Fold the wing edges

    Narrow each wing: fold its outer edge in to the crease beside it, from the bottom point. Fold the gold one (male, Ocho) forward, and the silver one (female, Mecho) behind (mountain fold).

  7. 7. Fold the bottom point up and back

    Fold the bottom point up a little, then fold its tip back down so a small triangle points down below the edge. Your pair of butterflies is done!

Settings

Clear saved data