Paper crane meaning. Paper cranes

Paper cranes would be an unremarkable origami figurine if not for one belief and story associated with it.

Sacred paper figurine

This belief goes deep into the Japanese Middle Ages, when it was popular among the nobility to send notes to each other in the form of folded origami figures. One of the simplest is paper crane or as it is called in Japanese “tsuru”. Folding it requires only twelve operations. At that time in Japan it symbolized longevity and happiness. This is where the belief came from: if you make a thousand tsuru and make a wish, it will definitely come true.

A gifted paper crane was sacred, and it brought good luck and happiness to the person being gifted. In 1917, a book was published in China, the title of which was Sembatsuru Orikata, which means “folding a thousand cranes.” This book discusses various ways of folding a paper crane and variations of its decoration.

Paper crane - a symbol of goodness and peace

The story related to the above belief happened not so long ago.

During World War II, a very little girl, Sadako Sasaki, lived in Hiroshima, Japan.

In 1945, the world's first atomic bomb was dropped on the city. The girl was only a couple of kilometers from the scene of the accident, but did not receive any visible injuries.

She grew up, went to school, played and studied, like all the kids. But nine years after the incident, radiation sickness made itself felt. Doctors diagnosed her with leukemia.

When Sadako was admitted to the hospital, a friend came to her and brought a paper with her. She made a crane out of it and, telling her friend the legend, gave the figurine to her. This figurine became the first of the subsequent thousand cranes of happiness.

The girl believed in the legend, as anyone who wants to live would. She diligently folded the tsuru when she felt better.

But her strength left her every day. She died on October 25, 1955, without having completed a thousand cranes your salvation.

Having learned about this story, children from all over the world began sending figurines of cranes to Hiroshima to finish her work.

This little girl, with all her willpower, became a symbol of protest against the war. She wanted world peace.

Inspired by her courage, Sadako's friends and acquaintances began planning the construction of a monument in memory of herself and the thousands of others who died during the atomic bombing.

The statue depicts Sadako Sasaki with a paper tsuru in her hand. The pedestal reads: “This is our cry, this is our prayer, world peace.”

To this day, children and adults send to the Peace Museum in Hiroshima paper cranes as a symbol of goodness and peace.

The Japanese crane "tsuru" is a symbol of longevity and a happy life. There is a beautiful ancient legend according to which, if you lovingly and carefully fold a thousand (senbazuru) of these cranes, give them to others and receive a thousand smiles in return, your cherished wish will come true.

***Once upon a time, there lived a very poor master on earth who devoted his entire life to origami and was amazingly kind to everyone and everything that surrounded him. He spent whole days folding various figures from sheets of paper, and then distributed them to the children. But one day he met a wandering monk on the road and gave him a figurine of a crane. The monk was touched. Then he said: “Stack your figures further. The main thing is your belief in their importance. Even if there is war around, stay true to your art, and it will thank you by making you rich and famous.”

Soon, as the monk prophesied, the war began. The young men went off to fight, but there was no end in sight to this horror. Only the poor master stubbornly continued to waste paper on his figures. Angry, the people decided to burn down his workshop. But when they found themselves in it, they were amazed at the variety and splendor of the figures. Then the master gave everyone a figurine according to their liking and taste. In front of the guests, the master rolled a crane out of a leaf, which immediately flapped its wings and flew away - it was messenger of peace. People believed in themselves, were inspired, and soon victory was theirs.***

This story began in 1945 - when the Japanese girl Sadaka was 2 years old, a nuclear bomb fell on her hometown of Hiroshima. Her house was located a mile from the explosion, yet outwardly she continued to grow up as a healthy child.

10 years later, the girl fell ill with radiation sickness. One day, a friend, visiting her in the hospital, brought with her a sheet of gilded paper and made a crane out of it. She told Sadako an old Japanese legend: whoever folds 1000 paper cranes will receive one wish from fate - a long life, a cure for illness or injury. The crane will bring this desire in its beak.

Sadako folded cranes as best she could from any paper she could find, but she only managed to make 644 cranes. On October 25, 1955, Sadako passed away. Her friends finished their work and Sadako was buried along with a thousand paper cranes. Alas, the disease won. But the white crane remained a symbol of hope. And a symbol of peace without war.

Three years later, a monument appeared - on a high pedestal, a fragile girl holds a crane above her head, soaring upward. The authors called the monument the Children's Monument to Peace. Locals more often call it the Obelisk of Paper Cranes.

It stands surrounded by the large trees of the Peace Park, very close to the place where the atomic pillar shot into the sky on August 6, 1945. Today, many senbazuru are enclosed in glass enclosures around the monument.

Words by Vladimir Lazarev
Music by Seraphim Tulikov

Returning from Japan, having walked many miles,
A friend brought me a Japanese crane,
And with this little crane the story is the same,
About a girl who was irradiated.

You are an ever-living souvenir.

“When will I see the sun?” - I asked the doctor.
And life stretched on thinly, like a candle in the wind.
And the doctor answered the girl: “Spring will come again,
And you will make a thousand cranes yourself.”

I'll spread paper wings for you,
Fly and disturb this world, this world,
Crane, crane, Japanese crane,
You are an ever-living souvenir.

But the girl did not survive and soon died,
And she didn’t make a thousand cranes.
The last little crane fell from children's hands -
And the girl did not survive, like many around.

I'll spread paper wings for you,
Fly and disturb this world, this world,
Crane, crane, Japanese crane,
You are an ever living souvenir.

At the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, paper cranes made by Sadako are placed next to a mock-up of an atomic bomb as two incompatible symbols of life and death.

How to fold a paper crane using the origami technique, master class.

The international symbol of origami is the Japanese paper crane. Any experienced origamist knows its diagram by heart and can easily fold this figure from memory.

The crane is a symbol of happiness and good luck in Japan. This figurine was folded in ancient times. Several ancient sources describe the making of a paper figurine of a crane (Tsuru). The gift of a paper crane was sacred and brought happiness and longevity to the recipient. In 1797, a book appeared in China called “Sembatsuru Orikata” - folding a thousand cranes. The book described various methods of making cranes from a paper square and compositions with them.

There is also one sad legend story associated with the paper crane, which gave it additional meaning and turned it into a sacred bird of the world.

During World War II, there lived a little girl named Sadako Sasaki in Hiroshima. She was born in 1943 and was just a baby when her father and mother were killed in the bombing of Hiroshima. Sadako herself survived, but suffered from radiation sickness. The girl fought the disease as best she could, but she got worse every year.

While lying in the hospital, Sadako folded paper cranes. She believed that if she folded a thousand cranes, her wish would come true. It became more and more difficult to work on the cranes, and, realizing that she would never recover, Sadako began to dream of peace for all the people of the Earth, so that there would be no more wars and innocent people would not die. But she did not have time to make a thousand cranes.

After making 644 cranes, Sadako died of illness in hospital on October 25, 1955. Having learned about this, children from all countries began to send origami paper cranes they had made to Hiroshima in the hope that Sadako’s dream would come true. A monument to Sadako was erected in Japan, and children still send paper cranes to the Peace Museum in Hiroshima as a symbol of peace and memory.

Making a thousand paper cranes is quite difficult. But making one figurine will not be difficult.

So, the diagram for folding a paper crane:

1. Fold a piece of paper in half diagonally