An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who manages to fold a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by the crane. The wish may be a long life or recovery from an illness or injury, the crane in Japan is considered to be one of the holiest creatures (other than the dragon and the tortoise), and is said to live for a 1000 years.
Sadako Sasaki was a 12 year old Japanese girl who died from radiation sickness, an after effect of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At the time of the explosion in 1945, Sadako was 2 years old, and living about a mile from ground zero. By November 1954, chicken pox had been spotted on her neck and behind her ears, then on January 1955, purple spots had began to form on her legs. Soon enough, she was diagnosed with leukemia, something her mother called an atom bomb disease. In the year 1955 she was hospitalized, but her chance of recovery was almost zero, in fact, she was given at the most, a year to live. On August 3, 1955, Sadako's best friend, Chizuko Hamamoto came to visit and folded a gold piece of paper into crane. At first Sadako didn't understand why Chizuko was folding a crane, but then Chizuko told her the story about the paper cranes. Wanting to quickly recover, Sadako decided to continue folding cranes, though lacking paper, she would instead use medicine wrappings and anything else she could find that could be used as a substitute for paper. But, she never got better. With her family around her, Sadako died on the morning of October 25, 1955.
After her death, Sadako's friends and schoolmates published a set of letters in order to raise funds to help build a memorial to her and all of the children who had died from the after effects of the atomic bomb. In 1958, a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was built in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. At the foot of the statue is a plaque that reads:
"This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace in the world."
Hopefully, the story will help remind our generation and future generations the horrors of the atomic bomb, and how it killed innocent children and people. The atomic bomb is another destructive weapon that shouldn’t ever be used or produced again.
Sadako Sasaki was a 12 year old Japanese girl who died from radiation sickness, an after effect of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At the time of the explosion in 1945, Sadako was 2 years old, and living about a mile from ground zero. By November 1954, chicken pox had been spotted on her neck and behind her ears, then on January 1955, purple spots had began to form on her legs. Soon enough, she was diagnosed with leukemia, something her mother called an atom bomb disease. In the year 1955 she was hospitalized, but her chance of recovery was almost zero, in fact, she was given at the most, a year to live. On August 3, 1955, Sadako's best friend, Chizuko Hamamoto came to visit and folded a gold piece of paper into crane. At first Sadako didn't understand why Chizuko was folding a crane, but then Chizuko told her the story about the paper cranes. Wanting to quickly recover, Sadako decided to continue folding cranes, though lacking paper, she would instead use medicine wrappings and anything else she could find that could be used as a substitute for paper. But, she never got better. With her family around her, Sadako died on the morning of October 25, 1955.
After her death, Sadako's friends and schoolmates published a set of letters in order to raise funds to help build a memorial to her and all of the children who had died from the after effects of the atomic bomb. In 1958, a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was built in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. At the foot of the statue is a plaque that reads:"This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace in the world."
Hopefully, the story will help remind our generation and future generations the horrors of the atomic bomb, and how it killed innocent children and people. The atomic bomb is another destructive weapon that shouldn’t ever be used or produced again.
Thanks for finding and posting this story...very moving tribute to all those who suffered from the fall-out of the bomb. This type of weapon is especially devastating to civilians since it has the ability to impact genetic and hereditary offspring. What a catastrophe.
ReplyDeleteThey didn't fold up to 1000 pieces yet right? If they all folded up to 1000 pieces, maybe Sadako would live longer. Sadako was one of the people who died from atomic bomb effect, and many people died from this too, but she has a statue. Is there any important meaning behind the statue? Or is it to show the Japanese belief of folding 1000 cranes only?
ReplyDeleteIn literature, it is often stated that Sadako only managed to fold 644 cranes before her death, but they only did that in order to create a more tramatic storyline regarding how she didn't reach her goal. In records, however, it is stated that she did manage to fold over 1,000 paper cranes. The statue was built as a memorial for all the children who had died from the atomic bomb, it stands there as a concrete reminder of how the atomic bomb seized many innocent lives.
ReplyDelete