SENBAZURU

A crane lives for a thousand years, a turtle lives for ten thousand years. (This phrase comes from a Chinese legend that can be found in the Huainanzi - Shuolin Xun, which says that cranes and turtles have life spans of a thousand and ten thousand years.) It means longevity and something auspicious. In Japan, Senbazuru (a thousand paper cranes) is a traditional design or painting of many cranes, or 1,000 origami cranes, bound together with thread. The presence of a thousand cranes (a large number of them), which are considered auspicious birds, represents an even greater sign of good fortune. Senbazuru are made and presented for the purpose of blessings, prayers for happiness, comfort in times of disaster, prayers for recovery from illness, and as a sympathetic gift. It has also become a symbol of peace because it was built by Sadako Sasaki, who was exposed to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and died of radiation sickness, as a prayer for her own survival. May there be no conflict and the world be at peace. That is our wish.