In Japan “crane bird” is a symbol for good luck, long healthy life, and happiness. The Japanese crane is commonly known as the red- crowned crane because of its unique red patch on the head which seems like its crown. This bird can live for a thousand years. It is believed in Japan that these birds carry the souls of the dead to heaven and, they are the oldest groups of birds on the earth. The crane birds make a couple and mate for life and use dance to strengthen their bond.
The Japanese shares a deep connection with the crane birds since ancient time and that is why you can witness this bird in many old Japanese stories, music, paintings etc.
SENBAZURU means making 1000 paper cranes and then putting them together with a thread.
It is believed that anyone who folds 1000 origami cranes will be granted a wish!
I would like to mention that this is not as easy as throwing a coin in a fountain. This calls for calmness, zeal, commitment, and lots and lots of paper.
NOTE: You can give SENBAZURU as a gift to your loved ones, a wedding gift to a couple for thousand years of happiness or to a sick person for their speedy recovery or to the elderly. You can also make SENBAZURU for someone who is sick as a symbol of concern and care.
It is believed that when the SENBAZURU is given to the elderly or the sick person it whispers to them “everything will be fine, do not worry”.
Sadako Sasaki: The girl who popularized folding a thousand origami cranes
The Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki were blown up by The United States of America on 6th and 9th August 1945. It was an ordinary summer Monday in Hiroshima city when around 8 in the morning some people witnessed an American Boeing B-29 aircraft in the sky and around 8:15 am something fell out of that aircraft that changed the life of thousands of people living in the city. It was an atomic bomb which destroyed Hiroshima city within seconds. More than 140,000 people died in just a blink of eye.
The number of deaths in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki kept increasing day by day after this incident due to the after effect of the bombing.
Sadako Sasaki was just 2 years old when this happened. A girl born on 7th January, 1943 who then left this world on 25th October 1955 due to leukemia when she was just 12 years old. She developed this disease because of the radiation caused by the atom bomb that fell on Hiroshima by the America.
While this little girl was hospitalized, an institution in Nagoya sent her origami cranes to wish her a speedy recovery. Sadako with other patients began to make cranes while believing that by making SENBAZURU (a set of origami cranes joined together by thread) they all could get cured and peace would spread all over the world. It is said that until her last day Sadako made approximately 1300 to 1500 cranes. Since then, making of 1000 paper cranes has become a symbol of peace in Japan.
Although the Senbazuru could not save Sadako and other patients’ lives, it undeniably helped them to leave this world in less pain. Sadako was in great pain during her last days, her left leg became purple and swollen and making these Senbazuru diverted her mind from that pain and also helped her in manifesting her wish of spreading peace all around the world so that no other country had to face this situation again.
HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN SENBAZURU
- 1. Select colors and size of cranes
- 2. Follow the steps
- 3. Repeat the steps until you make 1000 origami cranes
- 4. Decide how many strings you want to make and accordingly cut the thread
- 5.Thread the sewing needle and then push the needle through the middle of the crane from the top.
- 6. Repeat the process for each origami crane
