We visited Hiroshima Peace Park in 2008. When we reached the Children's Peace Monument, we saw brightly colored paper cranes everywhere and this monument. The photo wasn't good, I know, but on top on the bell-like structure is a statue of Sadako Sasaki holding a crane. I didn't know who she was and the significance of her and the monument at that time.
Who was Sadako Sasaki? She was a Japanese girl who lived in Hiroshima, Japan. She was two when the atomic bomb was dropped about one mile away from her home. She and her family managed to escape, although her grandmother; who ran back to fetch something from their house was never seen again.
Though an atomic bombing survivor, Sadako was a healthy and energetic child who never missed a day of school due to illness and was also a good runner. However, she fell ill when she was 11, and it got worse. In 1955, she was diagnosed with leukaemia, a cancer which affected many children who had been exposed to radiation because of the atomic bomb. Her family was told that she would have less than one year to live, and as she grew more ill, she was admitted to Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital. In August, 1000 paper cranes folded by high school students in Nagoya were delivered to the patients in the hospital. Sadako's room too, was brightened by the cranes folded in a myriad of colors.
Believing that folding paper cranes would help her recover, she too started folding them. However, on October 25 1955, after an eight-month struggle with the disease, she passed away; exactly a year since her class (and team) had won the relay on their school's Field Day. (Oh my... I've started tearing up as I'm typing this)...
Sadako's death triggered a campaign to build a monument to pray for world peace and the peaceful repose of the many children killed by the atomic bomb. The Children's Peace Monument (原爆の子の像), Genbaku no Ko no Zō; was designed by native artists Kazuo Kikuchi and Kiyoshi Ikebe. It was built using money derived from a fund-raising campaign by Japanese school children including Sadako's classmates, with the main statue entitled 'A-bomb Children' being unveiled on the 5th of May, 1958, on Children's Day in Japan.
Thousands of origami cranes from all over the world are offered around the monument on a daily basis, with ancient Japanese tradition holding that one who folds a thousand cranes can have one wish granted.
At the base of the monument is a black marble slab on which is inscribed in Japanese:
これはぼくらの叫びです これは私たちの祈りです 世界に平和をきずくための
Kore wa bokura no sakebi desu. Kore wa watashitachi no inori desu. Sekai ni heiwa o kizuku tame no.
This is our cry. This is our prayer - for building peace in the world.
To know more about Sadako Sasaki, click on this link.
Though an atomic bombing survivor, Sadako was a healthy and energetic child who never missed a day of school due to illness and was also a good runner. However, she fell ill when she was 11, and it got worse. In 1955, she was diagnosed with leukaemia, a cancer which affected many children who had been exposed to radiation because of the atomic bomb. Her family was told that she would have less than one year to live, and as she grew more ill, she was admitted to Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital. In August, 1000 paper cranes folded by high school students in Nagoya were delivered to the patients in the hospital. Sadako's room too, was brightened by the cranes folded in a myriad of colors.
Believing that folding paper cranes would help her recover, she too started folding them. However, on October 25 1955, after an eight-month struggle with the disease, she passed away; exactly a year since her class (and team) had won the relay on their school's Field Day. (Oh my... I've started tearing up as I'm typing this)...
Sadako's death triggered a campaign to build a monument to pray for world peace and the peaceful repose of the many children killed by the atomic bomb. The Children's Peace Monument (原爆の子の像), Genbaku no Ko no Zō; was designed by native artists Kazuo Kikuchi and Kiyoshi Ikebe. It was built using money derived from a fund-raising campaign by Japanese school children including Sadako's classmates, with the main statue entitled 'A-bomb Children' being unveiled on the 5th of May, 1958, on Children's Day in Japan.
Thousands of origami cranes from all over the world are offered around the monument on a daily basis, with ancient Japanese tradition holding that one who folds a thousand cranes can have one wish granted.
At the base of the monument is a black marble slab on which is inscribed in Japanese:
これはぼくらの叫びです これは私たちの祈りです 世界に平和をきずくための
Kore wa bokura no sakebi desu. Kore wa watashitachi no inori desu. Sekai ni heiwa o kizuku tame no.
This is our cry. This is our prayer - for building peace in the world.
To know more about Sadako Sasaki, click on this link.
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