Sadako and the Legend of the 1000 Cranes
Sadako Sasaki (佐々木 禎子) was a Japanese survivor of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She was just 2½ years old at the time. Ten years later, she developed leukaemia as a result of the radiation she was exposed to as a young child.
As a child, she had heard about the legend of the 1000 cranes. It says that whoever folds 1000 cranes will be freed from their illnesses and ailments and will be healed. And so she began to fold paper cranes during the many months she spent in hospital. The cranes became a symbol of hope for her and gave her strength.
She never lost hope and continued to fold until her death in the autumn of 1955. In one version of the story, her friends continued to fold for her until they reached the Thousand Cranes and buried them with her.
And even if Sadako herself did not make it, her message survived. Through the worldwide sympathy for her death, her cranes became the symbol of the children's peace movement and inspired countless projects worldwide that are still working for peace in the world today.
The origami crane became a symbol of the desire for peace and has since been used as a motif for monuments, memorials and sculptures with this message. Its moving story has been portrayed in short films and books.
Among the peace movements that relate to Sadako's message are, e.g. Peace Crane Project, which connects children around the world by exchanging their folded cranes.
As a symbol of peace, several statues have been erected in honor of Sadako, including one in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park (平和記念公園 – Heiwa Kinen Kōen) and in the Seattle Peace Park.
Even today, these statues are visited in large numbers and presented with chains of a thousand cranes as a sign of global peace and sympathy.
Family members also bring their folded cranes to these places again and again to express their wish for recovery for their loved ones.
Then as now, hatred and war exist in the world. But equally, the number of those who long for peace is growing.
The Cranes of Crane Meditation are also dedicated to this wish for peace.
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