Bringing communities together in Japanese gardens to promote peace
Kubota Garden is participating in the North American Japanese Garden Association’s “Gardens for Peace 2023” with an origami “peace crane” display at events in August and September, culminating in a virtual program on Tuesday, September 19th.
What is a peace crane?
When Sadako Sasaki was two years old, she was exposed to radiation from the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima in 1945. By the time she was 12, the radiation exposure had developed into leukemia, and she was given just one year to live. The young girl began making 1,000 paper cranes in the hopes of being granted her wish to recover from her illness. However, as time went on and her collection of origami cranes grew, her goal changed. Sasaki decided to wish for world peace instead of her own life. As her condition worsened, she never stopped making paper cranes and her classmates even joined in to help her. After she passed away, she was buried with a wreath of 1,000 paper cranes, and she became a symbol of peace and love. Sasaki is now forever memorialized at Hiroshima Peace Park, where a statue of her holding a giant crane—called the Children’s Peace Monument—stands.
Every year, thousands of people flock to the Children’s Peace Monument, where they drape wreaths of 1,000 cranes. And the origami crane continues to embody Sasaki’s selfless wish for world healing, more than 70 years later.
What is a peace crane?
When Sadako Sasaki was two years old, she was exposed to radiation from the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima in 1945. By the time she was 12, the radiation exposure had developed into leukemia, and she was given just one year to live. The young girl began making 1,000 paper cranes in the hopes of being granted her wish to recover from her illness. However, as time went on and her collection of origami cranes grew, her goal changed. Sasaki decided to wish for world peace instead of her own life. As her condition worsened, she never stopped making paper cranes and her classmates even joined in to help her. After she passed away, she was buried with a wreath of 1,000 paper cranes, and she became a symbol of peace and love. Sasaki is now forever memorialized at Hiroshima Peace Park, where a statue of her holding a giant crane—called the Children’s Peace Monument—stands.
Every year, thousands of people flock to the Children’s Peace Monument, where they drape wreaths of 1,000 cranes. And the origami crane continues to embody Sasaki’s selfless wish for world healing, more than 70 years later.