Origami Cranes

This display is a part of the 'Peace' case in the Manchester Museum's 'Living Worlds' gallery. The cranes overflow the case and are also suspended from the gallery ceiling.

The Crane is one of the most popular patterns of Origami, the art of Japanese paper folding.

Nature can be inspiring and can help people to deal with personal difficulties. Cranes are large birds that feature in the legends of many cultures. In China and Japan they symbolise long life and good luck.

There is a story that if you fold a thousand paper cranes your wish will come true. Sadako Sasaki was a young girl when an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima (Japan), in 1945. She became ill because of the radiation from the bomb. Sadako wanted to be healthy again so she tried to fold a thousand paper cranes. There is a story that Sadako's friends and classmates helped her to fold the paper cranes. Sadako said of the cranes, "I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world."

Today, paper cranes are an internationally recognised symbol of peace.

Sadako Sasaki was two years old when she was a victim of the Hiroshima bomb in 1954. She developed leukaemia, probably as a result of the bomb, and died in 1955.