The origami crane is a famous Japanese origami design that has become a symbol of peace. According to a Japanese legend, anyone who folds 1000 paper cranes will have their wish granted. This legend inspired Sadako Sasaki, a young girl exposed to radiation from the Hiroshima bombing, to fold cranes in hopes of recovering from leukemia, though she only completed 644 before her death. Sadako has come to represent all child victims of war and her story has helped origami cranes become associated with peace and healing from suffering.

1. JAPANESE ORIGAMI
CRANE
History and
Legend

2. The Japanese word “origami” is a
compound of two smaller Japanese
words: “ori”, meaning to fold, and “kami”,
meaning paper.
Japanese origami began sometime after
Buddhist monks carried paper to Japan
during the 6th century.
The first Japanese origami is dated from
that time period and was used for
religious ceremonial purposes only, due
to the high price of paper.

3. In 1797 the first known origami book
was published in Japan: Senbazuru
Orikata.
There are several stories in Japanese
culture, such as the story of Abe no
Seimei making a paper bird and
turning it into a real one.
One of the most famous origami
designs is the Japanese Crane.
The crane is lucky in Japanese
culture.

4. Legend says that anyone who folds 1000
paper cranes will have their heart‟s desire
come true.
The origami crane has become a symbol of
peace because of this belief and because of a
young Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki.
Sadako was exposed to the radiation of the
atomic bombing of Hiroshima as an infant, and
it took its inevitable toll on her health.
She was a hibakusha – an atomic bomb
survivor.
By the time she was 12, in 1955, she was
dying of leukemia.

5.  Hearing the legend of the Japanese crane, Sadako
decided to fold 1,000 origami cranes so that she could
live.
 When she saw that the other children in her ward were
dying, she realized that she would no survive and wished
instead for world peace and an end to suffering.
 A popular version of the tale is that Sadako folded 644
cranes before she died; her classmates then continued
folding cranes in honor of their friend.
 She was buried with a wreath of 1,000 cranes to honor
her dream.
 While her effort could not extend her life, it moved her
friends to make a granite statue of Sadako in the
Hiroshima Peace Park: a girl standing with her hands
outstretched, a paper crane flying from her fingertips.

6. Every year the statue of Sadako is adorned
with thousands of wreaths made with 1,000
origami cranes.
A group of 1,000 paper cranes is called
senbazuru in Japanese.
The tale of Sadako has been dramatized in
many books and movies. In one version,
Sadako wrote a haiku that translates into
English as: „I shall write peace upon your
wings, and you shall fly around the world so
that children will no longer have to die this
way.