As far as is shown in literature, the earliest reference to the girei origami was ocho and mecho (male and female butterfly models) in the haiku, 'butterflies in a beggar's dream are origami' composed by Saikaku IHARA in the 'Ittyuya Dokugin onsenku (4000 Haikus Recited Alone All Day and Night)" in 1680.
文献で確認できる限り、1680年に井原西鶴が「一昼夜独吟四千句」の中の一句「廬斉が夢の蝶はおりすえ」に詠んだ、雄蝶・雌蝶が最古の記録である。