Japan’s Children’s Peace Monument
I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world.
- Sadako Sasaki
Those who visit the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan, cannot help but notice the brightly colored paper cranes that adorn this special place. Paper cranes have an ancient connection to the Japanese tradition of origami or paper folding; over recent decades they have emerged as a modern day symbol of peace in many countries around the world, thanks to the influence of a young girl named Sadako Sasaki, who died of leukemia ten years after the atomic bombing of the city in 1945.
Sadako was two years old, and two kilometers away from the atomic bomb when it was dropped on Hiroshima. Although most of her neighbors died due to the event, in the immediate aftermath Sadako actually presented no apparent injuries. However nine years later, when she was in the sixth grade of elementary school (1954), some symptoms of an illness suddenly became apparent. In February of 1955 she was diagnosed with leukemia and was admitted to the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital. It was while she was a patient at this hospital that Sadako began to take a persistent interest in folding cranes; according to a Japanese legend, any person who folds one thousand of these cranes will be granted a wish.
Sadako kept folding cranes even though she was in great pain. Even during these times of great pain, she was known by hospital staff and other patients as cheerful and helpful, and always asking for scraps of paper or material to continue folding cranes. Although Sadako knew she would not survive, she folded well over 1,000 cranes and continued to be strong for the sake of her family. In October 1955, with her family standing by her bed, she died. At the time of her death she had folded approximately 1450 cranes, according to her brother.
(left): Sadako Sasaki in 1949, outside her primary school. Photo credit Masahiro Sasaki.
(above): Sadako in 1954, shortly before her diagnosis
Sadako's death inspired an initiative to dedicate a monument to world peace, and to the memory of the many children killed by the atomic bomb. The Children's Peace Monument that stands in Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park was built with funds donated from all over Japan. It’s awe-inspiring to think that this act of folding a crane started by a child and her classmates turned into a national, then an international, children's peace movement. Children from all over the world still send folded paper cranes to be placed beneath Sadako’s statue. In so doing, they fulfill the wish engraved on the base of the statue:
This is our cry, This is our prayer, Peace in the world.
You can find out how to take part in this global project for peace here.