Cranes, 1/100 senbazuru necklace: A young Japanese girl, Sadako Sasaki born in 1943, turned the paper crane into an international symbol of peace. Sadako was two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima , Japan . As she grew up, Sadako was a strong, courageous and athletic girl. In 1955, at age 11, while training for a big race, she became dizzy and fell to the ground. Sadako was diagnosed with leukemia, "the atomic bomb" disease.
Hearing about the old legend that anyone who folded 1,000 paper cranes would have their heart's true wish come true, she decided to fold 1,000 cranes so that she could live. However, it was not just for herself that she wished healing. It is said that what made the girl truly special in her effort was her additional wish to end all such suffering, to bring peace and healing to the victims of the world. Sadako folded 644 cranes before she died. Her classmates continued folding cranes in honor of their friend. Sadako was buried with a wreath of 1,000 cranes. While her effort could not extend her life, it moved her friends to make a granite statue of Sadako in the Hiroshima Peace Park : a young girl standing with her hand outstretched, a paper crane flying from her fingertips. Every year the statue is adorned with thousands of wreaths of a thousand origami cranes. A group of one thousand paper cranes is called senbazuru in Japanese ----- For me, folding 1000 cranes was about setting goals and accomplishing them. About emptying my mind while folding and about believing in something to hold onto and continue, no matter what --- 1/100 senbazuru necklace £12