Paper cranes "Orizuru"

When you speak about Origami the first structure which comes to mind is the paper crane .Crane is a sacred bird in Japan.The cranes in Japanese are called (ツル) tsuru.The word Tsuru becomes -zuru when combined with other words.Thus the paper crane is called Orizuru. It is a Japanese custom that if one folds thousand cranes then they would be granted a wish.Senbazuru in japanese means thousand paper cranes.

There is a famous story of a little girl of Hiroshima. The Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki born in 1943. Sadako was two years old when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. As she grew up, Sadako was a strong, courageous and athletic girl. In 1955, at age 11, while practicing for a big race, she became dizzy and fell to the ground. Sadako was diagnosed with Leukemia, "the atom bomb" disease. Sadako's best friend told her of an old Japanese legend which said that anyone who folds a thousand paper cranes would be granted a wish. Sadako hoped that the gods would grant her a wish to get well so that she could run again. She started to work on the paper cranes and completed over 1000 before dying on October 25, 1955 at the age of twelve.

She never gave up. She continued to make paper cranes until she died. Inspired by her courage and strength, Sadako's friends and classmates put together a book of her letters and published it. In 1958, a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was unveiled in Hiroshima Peace Park. Today, people all over the world fold paper cranes and send them to Sadako's monument in Hiroshima.

The Children's Monument is topped by a statue of a girl holding a folded crane.

Around the base of the Children's Mounument
lie many thousands of folded paper cranes and
peace messages from all over the world.


At the bottom of the monument the following words are inscribed

               "This is our cry. 
                This is our prayer. 
                Peace in the world."

The Seattle Peace Park was built by Dr. Floyd Schmoe when he won the Hiroshima Peace Prize of $5000 in 1988 and used the money to clear a small lot near the University of Washington. The park was dedicated on August 6, 1990, the 45th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. The Statue is a life size bronze of Sadako Sasaki.



This Statue of Sadako Sasaki stands in the Seattle Peace Park.


Sadako wrote of her cranes:

 
       ' I will write Peace on your wings  
        and you will fly all over the world.'