Sadako Sasaki Sasaki soon developed leukemia and, at age 12 after spending a significant amount of time in a hospital, began making origami cranes with the goal of making one thousand, inspired by the senbazuru legend. To honor her memory, her classmates agreed to fold the remaining 356 cranes for her.

According to Japanese tradition, folding 1,000 paper cranes gives you a chance to make one special wish come true. In some variations of the tradition, you may be granted happiness and eternal good luck, instead of just one wish, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury.

Update on how long it takes: I takes me about three minutes to do 1 crane and if I focus I can do 20 in an hour. So, the whole project should take about 50 hours of work.

For the legend holds that if a sick person folds one thousand cranes, the gods will grant her wish and make her healthy again. Based on a true story, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes celebrates the extraordinary courage that made one young woman a heroine in Japan.

According to Japanese tradition, folding 1,000 paper cranes gives a person a chance to make one special wish come true. The crane is believed to live for 1,000 years and that is the meaning behind 1,000 an individual needs to fold.

Excess leukemia was the earliest delayed effect of radiation exposure seen in A-bomb survivors. Japanese physician Takuso Yamawaki in Hiroshima first noted an increase of leukemia cases in his clinical practice in the late 1940s.

The uranium bomb detonated over Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 had an explosive yield equal to 15,000 tonnes of TNT. It razed and burnt around 70 per cent of all buildings and caused an estimated 140,000 deaths by the end of 1945, along with increased rates of cancer and chronic disease among the survivors.

Cranes are considered a symbol of “peace” and have long been considered to bring good fortune. The orizuru became a symbol of peace when a girl who was exposed to radiation in Hiroshima folded paper cranes in hope of making a full recovery from leukemia. Have you ever heard of Sadako Sasaki?

Steps

1. Cut a long length of thread according to your desired strand length.
2. Thread your sewing or doll-making needle.
3. Tie a bead (see “Things You’ll Need” for other suggestions) at the bottom of the thread.
4. Push the needle up through the hole at the bottom of each crane.
5. Repeat this until you have completed the strand.

How do I make peace cranes?

1. Fold paper diagonally to form a triangle.
2. Fold the paper diagonally in the opposite direction, forming a new triangle.
3. Fold the paper in half to the right to form a tall rectangle.
4. Fold the paper in half, bringing the bottom up to the top to form a wide rectangle.

Yoshizawa Akira