Google on March 14 welcomed its visitor with an origami-themed doodle on the homepage to mark the 101st birth anniversary of Akira Yoshizawa.

The search engine giant dedicated the doodle to pay tribute to the Japanese-born Yoshizawa, with letters in the doodle turned into paper butterflies representing the art form, made popular by Yoshizawa.

The doodle was created with the help of Robert J. Lang, who is one of the foremost origami artists in the world, The International Business Times reports.

Akira Yoshizawa was born in March 1911 to the family of a farmer. He is credited with turning origami from a children's past time to a living art.

As a teenager, he started working in a factory that made machine tools. After few years, when Yoshizawa was promoted as technical draftsman, he was asked to teach geometry to his junior employees. Yoshizawa used his paper folding technique to teach juniors.

In 1930s, Yoshizawa left the factory and started pursuing his art form for more than two decades.

Later in 1952, he was given an origami assignment to fold the 12 signs of the Japanese zodiac for a Japanese magazine. The assignment got reputation for Yoshizawa and made him a popular international figure.