Sadako Sasaki’s elementary school classmate donates her paper crane to their old school
Apr. 23, 2018
by Sakiko Masuda, Staff Writer
It has been learned that a paper crane folded by Sadako Sasaki, a girl who experienced the atomic bombing in Hiroshima and died of leukemia at the age of 12 in 1955, has been kept by Hiromi Sorada, 75, a barber who lives in Minami Ward. Mr. Sorada was once Sadako’s classmate when they were students at Noborimachi Elementary School in Naka Ward. The paper crane, one of those given to Sadako’s classmates as a memento of her life, will be donated to the school on April 23.
The paper crane is red and is 3.8 centimeters tall. It is one of 20 paper cranes that were given to Mr. Sorada by Sadako’s family at the time of her funeral. The number of cranes he held has dwindled over the years because he gave most of them to people who visited him to listen to Sadako’s story. In 1988, along with other paper cranes made by Sadako that were in possession of another classmate, he donated his “last” paper crane to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. But after that, when he was cleaning the Buddhist altar in his home, where he had previously kept the paper cranes, he found one more.
Since then he has continued to preserve the crane and he finally decided to donate it to his old school when he learned that the school was planning to open a new resource room with peace-related materials.
Sadako’s death was the impetus for establishing the Children’s Peace Monument in 1958. It is said that Sadako folded well over a thousand paper cranes during her illness and, of these, the museum holds 129. But only 19 of the cranes are the “mementos” that were given to her classmates. It is now rare for one of Sadako’s paper cranes to be newly discovered.
The school’s new peace materials room is scheduled to open on May 12. The room will feature a special exhibit about Sadako that displays items like the school’s graduation album that was made in 1955. Mr. Sorada shared his hopes for the donated crane, saying, “I hope the children will look at the paper crane that was folded so earnestly by Sadako, with her desperate wish to live, so they can be aware of the preciousness of life and the horror of war.”
(Originally published on April 23, 2018)
It has been learned that a paper crane folded by Sadako Sasaki, a girl who experienced the atomic bombing in Hiroshima and died of leukemia at the age of 12 in 1955, has been kept by Hiromi Sorada, 75, a barber who lives in Minami Ward. Mr. Sorada was once Sadako’s classmate when they were students at Noborimachi Elementary School in Naka Ward. The paper crane, one of those given to Sadako’s classmates as a memento of her life, will be donated to the school on April 23.
The paper crane is red and is 3.8 centimeters tall. It is one of 20 paper cranes that were given to Mr. Sorada by Sadako’s family at the time of her funeral. The number of cranes he held has dwindled over the years because he gave most of them to people who visited him to listen to Sadako’s story. In 1988, along with other paper cranes made by Sadako that were in possession of another classmate, he donated his “last” paper crane to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. But after that, when he was cleaning the Buddhist altar in his home, where he had previously kept the paper cranes, he found one more.
Since then he has continued to preserve the crane and he finally decided to donate it to his old school when he learned that the school was planning to open a new resource room with peace-related materials.
Sadako’s death was the impetus for establishing the Children’s Peace Monument in 1958. It is said that Sadako folded well over a thousand paper cranes during her illness and, of these, the museum holds 129. But only 19 of the cranes are the “mementos” that were given to her classmates. It is now rare for one of Sadako’s paper cranes to be newly discovered.
The school’s new peace materials room is scheduled to open on May 12. The room will feature a special exhibit about Sadako that displays items like the school’s graduation album that was made in 1955. Mr. Sorada shared his hopes for the donated crane, saying, “I hope the children will look at the paper crane that was folded so earnestly by Sadako, with her desperate wish to live, so they can be aware of the preciousness of life and the horror of war.”
(Originally published on April 23, 2018)
