Have you ever looked at a Hinamatsuri (Doll Festival) display and wondered about the tiny music troupe perched on the third tier? Those little figures are the "go-nin bayashi" — five musicians who accompany Noh-style music, and folding them from a single sheet of paper is both easier and more charming than you might expect. In this tutorial we will make the full set: two standing performers and three seated ones, each captured mid-performance. The fold leans on nothing fancier than triangles and diagonal creases, and the photos flag the one or two spots where it is easy to flip the wrong way. Grab a sheet of patterned origami paper and let us bring this little festival band to life.

This is a little troupe of five musicians folded from origami paper.

Here we will walk you through how to fold these five tiny musicians.

Both the standing and the seated figures are explained with clear photos, so the steps are easy to follow.

Feel free to use this as a reference.

[Origami] How to Fold the Five Musicians

Today I would like to show you how to fold a set of five origami musicians.

They are the small music ensemble placed on the third tier of a Hinamatsuri (Doll Festival) display.

Each figure plays its own instrument to accompany Noh-style music, forming the classic “go-nin bayashi” troupe.

Before we get to the instruments themselves, let us first learn how to fold the musicians.

The key to folding them neatly is to keep track of when to flip the paper over and which direction to fold. I made plenty of mistakes and failed at first (laughs).

For the trickier spots, helpful notes are written right on the photos, so do check them if you can.

Whenever a photo says “Turn it over,” just flip the paper — that is all there is to it!

And where it says “to the other side,” please watch the folding direction carefully.

So let us fold our own set of five musicians with origami paper.

What the finished musicians look like

Once finished, your set will look like this.

The standing figure is on the right and the seated figure on the left.

The ensemble is made of two standing figures and three seated ones.

If you fold them from origami paper with a pretty pattern, the result looks especially charming.

For a five-tier doll platform, display them on the third tier.

It will look wonderfully festive, will it not?

How to Fold the Five Musicians

Now, let us move on to the folding steps.

Folding the Standing Musician

STEP 1. Fold into a triangle. Unfold once the crease is made.

STEP 2. Fold diagonally along the dotted line.

STEP 3. Fold to the other side along the line.

STEP 4. Fold from top to bottom along the dotted line.

STEP 5. Fold the bottom corner upward. Then flip the paper over.

STEP 6. Fold toward this side along the line.

STEP 7. Fold downward to the other side.

Complete!

Folding the Seated Musician

STEP 1. Fold into a triangle.

STEP 2. Fold along the dotted line.

STEP 3. Turn the paper over.

STEP 4. Fold along the dotted line.

STEP 5. Fold to the other side along the line.

STEP 6. Wrap and fold to the other side.

STEP 7. Then wrap around and fold to the other side.

STEP 8. Next, bend the bottom part to the other side.

STEP 9. Fold along the dotted line.

Done!