10/16/2026
Tonight, the Roseburg Sister Cities co-sponsored with the Umpqua Valley Arts Center an event to celebrate Origami, folding Orizuru, and helping to make 1,000 cranes, paper figures the symbol of honor and loyalty. The paper cranes will be sent to the Children’s Peace Monument located in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan.
Below is the history surrounding “Orizuru.” We thank all of people who came tonight and share photos below of their efforts. Additional events will be sponsored in the future so we can send as many origami cranes to the Children’s Peace Monument and hope you will join us,
Chair of this event: Amie McCormick is a Board Member of Roseburg Sister Cities, as well as the Co-lead of the adult delegation traveling to Japan next week. Here is her introduction of this event:
I am here today to share with you a story, a bit of history, and hopefully, some inspiration. Tonights event started out as a small idea. During our Obon Festival, some of our wonderful volunteers were able to share a little joy by teaching a couple beginner Origami techniques. Because there was so much interest, my fellow board members agreed that this was something that we should make into another event. So, as I started to research a little I found that there was quite a lot of interesting history that I am hoping you will do yourselves a favor and look a little deeper into this captivating art form!
Before we start the event, I would like to share a little bit of history. Origami actually stems from the Japanese words Ori (folded) and Kami (paper). When origami was first practiced, paper was expensive, so the craft was only for the elite. Japanese monks crafted paper figures for ceremonial Shinto rituals and for decorating formal ceremonies. It was only after 1880 when paper was more affordable that origami became more common and it transitioned to what we know today.
It is said Akira Yoshizawa was the father of modern origami as he developed the current standard and designed countless patterns. In 1957, he published ”Origami Tokuhon” which had quite the historical impact! This was only one of 18 books he published, and 1989 he himself estimated he had created more than 50,000 models and only a mere few hundred were actually presented in his books.
All of that being said, lets go back just a little, because tonight, we are folding Orizuru! The history of the Orizuru was hundreds of years before Mr. Akira Yoshizawas time. As far as we know, this tradition actually began hundreds of years ago in feudal Japan when people gifted each other the paper figures as symbols of honor and loyalty. The first known book about origami, including instructions was published in 1797. Before Hiden Senbazuru Orikata (“Secret to Folding One-thousand Cranes”), these instructions were thought to be tradition handed down from mother to daughter.
You may be wondering, why a crane? In Japan, the crane, or “tsuru” is thought to be a mythical creature, living 1,000 years or more. Because of this, the “bird of happiness” represents good fortune and longevity, and its wings are believed to provide protection. There’s even a traditional prayer that is sometimes recited by mothers who are concerned for their children:
“O flock of heavenly cranes
cover my child with your wings.”
In Japanese folklore, it is said that folding 1,000 origami cranes will lead to the persons wish being granted. With this history, it is clear why the Orizuru became a symbol of hope and healing during challenging times.
And if you have heard Sadako Sasakis story, you can understand why the folding of 1,000 paper cranes became so popular all over the world. For those that don’t know, Sadako Sasaki was just 2 years old when the atomic bomb hit Hiroshima. She was one of the 350,000 people in Hiroshima at the time, living just over a mile from the hypocenter. Miraculously, although the blast threw her from her chair, Sadako and her family survived the blast seemingly unfazed. She was vibrant, active girl.
But that all changed 9 years later when she suddenly fell ill and was diagnosed with leukemia. During her 8 month struggle in the hospital she would use medicine wrappers, scrap paper, and anything she could find, to successfully fold over 1,300 cranes. And as she folded, she began writing her wish on the cranes wings, then changed her wish. Instead of wishing for her own health, she began writing the word "Heiwa", or peace, on the wings of her cranes. She famously said: “I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world.”
Sadako passed away on October 25, 1955, at just 12 years old.
Devastated by her death, her classmates launched a national campaign to build a monument for Sadako and the thousands of children who died from the atomic bomb. According to surveys by the city of Hiroshima, 73,622 children under 10 years of age were exposed to the bombing, of whom 7,907 had died by the end of 1945. Among older children and adolescents, the death toll was thought to be 15,543. These numbers do include the 8,400 seventh and eighth graders who had been mobilized during this time, working to help protect their city from air raids.
Children from over 3,100 schools across Japan and around the world sent in donations to build what is now known as the Children’s Peace Monument located in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. On May 5, 1958 a 9-meter bronze statue of Sadako lifting a golden paper crane toward the sky was unveiled. Inside the monument is a peace bell, donated by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Hideki Yukawa. The inscription at the base of her statue is a phrase that reads:
"This is our cry. This is our prayer. To build peace in the world."
Paper Crane Day
Nobori-cho Municipal Junior High School where Sadako was enrolled holds an annual peace gathering on the day of her death, October 25, which they call Paper Crane Day.
The Paper Crane Monument
(Location: Nobori-cho Municipal Junior High School)
As evidence that the children of Hiroshima understand and accept the prayers for peace invested in the paper cranes sent from overseas to Hiroshima, the Paper Crane Monument was unveiled on October 26, 2000 by the Student Association, Nobori-cho Municipal Junior High School. The Japanese characters carved on the front of the monument mean, "Prayers of the paper cranes here"
The goal of this event is to gather cranes to take to Hiroshima. You are welcome to keep your art, or donate it to Roseburg Sister Cities in honor of Sadako Sasaki. All Orizurus that are donated to go to the Childrens Peace Monument will be temporarily stored in the display case at City Hall.
