Guinness world record for longest single string of origami paper cranes measures 15.5797 kilometers, made up of 579,658 cranes donated by 351 groups in Hiroshima
Sep. 26, 2022
by Masaharu Kawamura, Staff Writer
A 15.5797-kilometer string of origami cranes was certified to be the world’s longest by the Guinness World Records on September 24. The 579,658 paper cranes were collected by the Hiroshima Chapter of the Japanese Red Cross Society. The new record bested, by about 5.8 kilometers, the previous record for a single string of cranes created in Okinawa City in 2017.
The origami cranes were donated from 351 organizations in Hiroshima Prefecture, including elementary, junior high schools and high schools, kindergartens, and nursery schools, as well as private-sector businesses. To win a place in the Guinness World Records, a total of around 450 volunteers worked to connect the cranes at a martial arts dojo in the Hiroshima Prefectural Sports Center, located in the city’s Naka Ward, on September 22 and 23. Official certifiers visited the venue on September 24. When the result was announced, junior high and high school students who participated in the work cheered and shared their joy with each other.
Yu Miyamoto, 16, a second-year student at Funairi High School, received the certificate on behalf of the other students. “This will help spread the hope for peace from Hiroshima,” said Mr. Miyamoto.
The Japanese Red Cross Hiroshima Chapter began the effort earlier this year in January to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Junior Red Cross activities. During the summer, the organization called widely for donations of origami cranes. About 1.2 million cranes arrived at the organization, but some of the donations were unusable because of issues with size or the way in which they had been folded.
All of the paper cranes will be recycled into notebooks and donated to children in Nepal. Yu Kubota, 37, head of the youth and volunteer section of the Hiroshima Chapter of the Japanese Red Cross Society, said, “Those notebooks will be filled with special wishes. I hope Nepalese children will understand that they have friends in Japan, too.”
(Originally published on September 26, 2022)
A 15.5797-kilometer string of origami cranes was certified to be the world’s longest by the Guinness World Records on September 24. The 579,658 paper cranes were collected by the Hiroshima Chapter of the Japanese Red Cross Society. The new record bested, by about 5.8 kilometers, the previous record for a single string of cranes created in Okinawa City in 2017.
The origami cranes were donated from 351 organizations in Hiroshima Prefecture, including elementary, junior high schools and high schools, kindergartens, and nursery schools, as well as private-sector businesses. To win a place in the Guinness World Records, a total of around 450 volunteers worked to connect the cranes at a martial arts dojo in the Hiroshima Prefectural Sports Center, located in the city’s Naka Ward, on September 22 and 23. Official certifiers visited the venue on September 24. When the result was announced, junior high and high school students who participated in the work cheered and shared their joy with each other.
Yu Miyamoto, 16, a second-year student at Funairi High School, received the certificate on behalf of the other students. “This will help spread the hope for peace from Hiroshima,” said Mr. Miyamoto.
The Japanese Red Cross Hiroshima Chapter began the effort earlier this year in January to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Junior Red Cross activities. During the summer, the organization called widely for donations of origami cranes. About 1.2 million cranes arrived at the organization, but some of the donations were unusable because of issues with size or the way in which they had been folded.
All of the paper cranes will be recycled into notebooks and donated to children in Nepal. Yu Kubota, 37, head of the youth and volunteer section of the Hiroshima Chapter of the Japanese Red Cross Society, said, “Those notebooks will be filled with special wishes. I hope Nepalese children will understand that they have friends in Japan, too.”
(Originally published on September 26, 2022)
