The Story Behind Origami Crane

A sad story behind origami crane:
The story was about a Japanese girl, Sadako Sasaki, who was a little girl during World War Two. She lived near Misasa Bridge in Hiroshima, Japan, and was only two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. She survived from the deadly nuclear bombing that year, but after 9 years, on 1954, she started to feel effects of radiation caused by the nuclear bombing.. She developed a cold, and lumps developed on her neck and behind her ears that slowly moved towards her face. Purple spots started to form on her legs. Then, she was diagnosed with leukemia, leaving her at most 1 more year to live. She was only 12 years old on that year. While hospitalized, she was told about an old Japanese legend that says anyone who make a thousand origami paper crane, will be given a wish by the god. So she started to fold paper crane. At the time she died, on the morning of October 25 1955, she had folded 644 origami paper crane. After her death, her friends completed the 1,000 paper crane and buried them all with her. The story of Sadako spread all over Japan, and inspired the children across the country to start folding the "Peace Crane", and raising fund to buid a memorial for her. In 1958, three years after Sadako's death, a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was unveiled in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.

"This is our cry, this is our prayer, Peace in the World" is the inscription at the foot of the statue.