The paper crane is a symbol of peace and hope. This idea was popularized by the familiar story of Sadako Sasaki. She was just a child when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, but at the age of 11 she was diagnosed with the "atom bomb disease" or leukemia because of the direct exposure to the radiation.
With the encouragement from her friends and family, Sadako decided to fold 1000 paper cranes in the hope that she would be cured. She believed in the old Japanese legend that said; a person who folds 1000 paper cranes will have his/her wish granted; she was confident that each paper crane represented a wish and certainly a thousand wishes could not be ignored...
She used every piece of paper she could get her hands on; the medicine paper, newspapers, magazines, scraps, and other papers her family and friends brought her. She folded and folded hundreds of cranes as she watched her friends die in the hospital along side her.
Eventually, she realized that here wish had changed. She no longer wished for her own health but rather that this type of violence should never happen again. That there should be no more bombs or wars, her wish was for peace so that children like her and adults alike will never have to suffer and die.
She managed to fold 644 cranes before she could fold no more... She passed away on October 25, 1955.
Everyone was so moved by her story, her friend, classmates, and family folded the remaining 356 cranes to bury with her.
A few years later a monument in her honor was erected in Hiroshima Park as an example of her courage and dedication and her wish for peace. The monument has engraved the following:
This is our cry,
This is our prayer,
peace in the world.
