The question, &#;Why do you make origami cranes?&#; has been asked of me many times by family, friends, colleagues and even complete strangers as they watch me making an origami crane from whatever paper is available in the moment. At restaurants, my servers will always have a tiny origami crane made from the napkin paper added to their tip. After long meetings, cranes made from gum or candy wrappers will be found on the tables. During airplane rides, little kids will be playing with the cranes I give them to keep them occupied. And when I just need a fidget activity, my hands will go to work creating origami cranes.
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To answer their question, I explain how I started making cranes many years ago when hosting a Japanese guest through the Michigan 4-H International Exchange Summer Program through States' 4-H International. Our Japanese guest quickly became a part of our family she shared the story of "Sadako & Paper Cranes" by Eleanor Coerr with us. This started my crane-making obsession after she taught me how to make the origami cranes.
During that time, my Japanese friend and I went into an elementary school, taught over 100 students how to make the cranes and briefly explained the story about when someone gives you an origami crane, it represents friendship, good health and world peace. The school turned it into an opportunity of global education and service learning as the students gave their cranes to the Make a Wish Foundation to give to the children in the hospital to make wishes for good health. I have since heard or read of other schools doing similar projects as they learn about WWII and Sadako Sasaki.
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.
In , I was honored to be the Michigan 4-H outbound chaperone through the States&#; 4-H International Japan outbound summer program. During this trip, it so happened to be the 60th anniversary of the WWII atomic bombing in Hiroshima, Japan. My host family took me to the museum and the Children&#;s Peace Monument for an experience I will never forget.
Seeing first hand some of the tiny origami cranes made by Sadako herself, photographs and the Children&#;s Peace Monument moved me to tears. It is here I found why the origami crane has become a symbol of peace and because of the young Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki who died of leukemia from the atomic bomb. I learned the ceremonial process, made and placed a golden origami crane under her statue, and I continue sharing the story with whomever I meet.
When I was the Michigan 4-H inbound coordinator through States&#; 4-H International Exchange, a host family had a daughter fighting leukemia just like Sadako. Her Japanese host sister had a certified origami crane that she made placed at the Peace Memorial for her Michigan sister. This shows how the event between two cultures continues to be shared in a peaceful way.
My crane-folding passion became stronger after I found out that a childhood best friend had cancer. According to the tradition, anyone with the patience and commitment to fold 1,000 paper cranes will be granted their most desired wish because they have presented the cranes' loyalty and refashioned their beauty. Knowing this, I made my friend 1,000 origami cranes and my wish was for her good health and to beat the cancer. It took two years to accomplish this goal and my friend is still in remission! I have since also made cranes for friends and other family members in need of good health wishes, carefully writing special messages inside each crane I fold.
I have found that my obsession of making cranes can be contagious. After doing origami &#;art science&#; (yes, origami is science engineering!) with elementary students, the teacher later shared with me her story. She said that while waiting in the lobby for an oil change, she decided to read the &#;Sadako & Paper Cranes&#; book I had given to her to highlight in the spring school cultural program. She fought back tears heartened by the story and shared the origami art science program I had done at the school and the reason for reading the book to the other individuals in the lobby that day. The next thing she knows, they are all having a wonderful cultural conversation about origami, art science and asking the oil station receptionist for paper to try and make origami cranes!
She also told me how a friend visiting the school library saw the origami art display I had left. After explaining the program I had conducted, this individual became very excited about origami and utilizing it at the women&#;s prison where she volunteered. She took some origami simple instruction samples I had provided and taught the 200 women at the prison (they are not allowed scissors, crayons, etc., thus just paper folding is a perfect medium for them). She shared that they were super excited, loved doing the activity and would like to learn more!
Another 4-H leader shared with me how she took the crane-making activity to her social studies class and how the hands-on learning of making the cranes solidified the student&#;s learning about WWII and the bombing of Hiroshima. Furthermore, she stated how some of her students were moved to tears when she read the Sadako story. Empathy has been a challenge to teach and she found that making the cranes were an unexpected way to teach empathy to her students.
The next time you are watching a television commercial where the dad folds origami cranes from gum wrappers for his daughter, or you watch a video about a Romanian origami artist that makes beautiful cranes for emotional health reasons, you now have an idea why they are making the origami crane. The Japanese &#;senbazuru&#; has also become a symbol of hope and healing during challenging times. Sadako Sasaki's family donated some of her origami cranes to Honolulu, Hawaii, to promote peace and overcome the tragedies of the past and the cranes are on display in Pearl Harbor, where the Japanese attack launched the two nations into war.
Next time you see thousands of cranes made and displayed after a tragedy, at an art exhibit or receive an origami crane from a Japanese friend or myself, you now know why I make origami paper cranes.
&#;Thousands Origami Cranes Project&#; is a continuous personal goal that I have in my global and cultural 4-H programming. I will make and teach how to create origami cranes with special messages written inside at various 4-H events and workshops like the Kettunen Center in Tustin, Michigan, Michigan 4-H Exploration Days, Michigan 4-H Creative Arts Celebration, Allegan/VanBuren County 4-H Camp Kidwell summer program, W.K. Kellogg Biological Station Bird Sanctuary and wherever invited to do global and cultural 4-H programming.
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Participants will be using the 4 &#;H&#;s&#; of the clover, using their head in global knowledge, heart in empathy/love, hands in creativity, and emotional/physical health wishes for their club, community, county and world. Participants making the cranes may even gain a new passion like myself, visually symbolizing friendship, good health and world peace.
If you want to learn how to make an origami crane the way I do, watch the close-captioned video below.
Maybe you have become inspired to create your own story on why you make origami cranes.
Michigan State University Extension and the Michigan 4-H Youth Development program help to prepare youth as positive and engaged leaders and global citizens by providing educational experiences and resources for youth interested in developing knowledge and skills in these areas.
The crane is considered a mystical or holy creature (others include the dragon and the tortoise) in Japan and is said to live for a thousand years. That is why one thousand origami cranes (&#;&#;&#;, senbazuru, lit.'one thousand cranes') are made, one for each year. In some stories, it is believed that the cranes must be completed within one year and they must all be made by the person (or group of people) who will make the wish at the end.[citation needed]
In Japan, cranes have been thought a symbol of long life. An old phrase says "cranes live a thousand years". Here "a thousand" is not necessarily to designate the exact number, but a poetic expression of huge amounts. Historically well-wishers offered a picture of a crane to shrines and temples as well as paper cranes. Origami, specially crafted and patterned paper, was invented in Edo period. In the late 17th century books referring not only to "paper cranes" but also to "one thousand cranes" were published.[1]
In modern times, cranes are often given to a person who is seriously ill, to wish for their recovery. They are usually created by friends, classmates, or colleagues as a collective effort, offered to a shrine on the person's behalf or directly gifted to. Another common use is for sports teams or athletes, wishing them victories. Cranes are also a symbol of peace, and are thus often seen at war memorials along with its original meaning for wishing good health.
Several temples, including some in Tokyo and Hiroshima, have eternal flames for world peace. At these temples, school groups or individuals often donate senbazuru to add to the prayer for peace. The cranes are left exposed to the elements, slowly becoming tattered and dissolving as symbolically, the wish is released. In this way, they are related to the prayer flags of India and Tibet.
The Japanese space agency JAXA used the folding of one thousand cranes as one of the tests for candidates of its astronaut program.[2]
The one thousand origami cranes were globally popularized through the story of Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who was two years old when she was exposed to radiation from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during World War II. 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. In a fictionalized version of the story as told in the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, she folded only 644 before she became too weak to fold anymore, and died on 25 October . To honor her memory, her classmates agreed to fold the remaining 356 cranes for her. In the version of the story told by her family and classmates, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum states that she did complete the 1,000 cranes and continued past that when her wish failed to come true. There is a statue of Sadako holding a crane in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, and every year on Obon day, people leave cranes at the statue in memory of the departed spirits of their ancestors.[citation needed]
According to her family, and especially her older brother Masahiro Sasaki, who speaks on his sister's life at events, Sadako not only exceeded 644 cranes, she exceeded her goal of 1,000 and died having folded approximately 1,400 paper cranes. In his book, The Complete Story of Sadako Sasaki, co-written with Sue DiCicco, founder of the Peace Crane Project, Masahiro says Sadako exceeded her goal.
Sets of origami paper are sold widely in Japan, with senbazuru sets including about one thousand sheets of paper, string, and beads to place at the end of each string to stop the cranes from slipping off.[3] Commonly, the cranes are assembled as 25 strings of 40 cranes each.[3]
The size of the origami paper does not matter when assembling a thousand paper cranes, but smaller sheets consequently yield smaller and lighter strings of cranes. The most popular size for senbazuru is 7.5 by 7.5 centimetres (3.0 in × 3.0 in). Some people cut their own squares of paper from anything available, such as magazines, newspapers, notebooks, and printer paper.
Origami paper used for senbazuru is usually of a solid color, though patterned designs are available. Larger size origami paper, usually 6×6 inches, often has traditional Japanese or flower designs, reminiscent of kimono patterns.
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