The Paper Cranes of Hiroshima: A Reflection on Hope and Healing
During a recent visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, our group was guided to the Children’s Peace Monument, where thousands of colorful paper cranes are gathered. These cranes, sent from around the world, are offered as symbols of peace and remembrance for the children who perished in the atomic bombing. Standing before them, I was struck by how such a simple creation—an origami crane—could carry so much meaning: good fortune, honor, longevity, healing, and peace.
The tradition of folding one thousand cranes, known as senbazuru, is often offered as a gesture of support for someone who is ill—a visual prayer for recovery. Perhaps the most well-known story is that of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who began folding cranes while battling leukemia caused by radiation exposure. Her story has forever linked the crane with resilience, hope, and the dream of peace.
As I stood there, surrounded by colleagues, friends, and their families—people I admire not only as clinicians but as human beings—I felt the weight of the moment. I was also carrying my own quiet struggles at the time. Listening to the history, seeing the cranes, and reflecting inward reminded me that while the magnitude of suffering remembered here is beyond comparison, each of us also carries our own stories. Some of these stories are heavy. Some we continue to hold tightly, and others we may one day set down.
The cranes reminded me that within each of us lives both the weight of our experiences and the possibility of healing. We all carry threads of hope, even when we don’t recognize them. Like the cranes, those threads can be woven together—shared, honored, and transformed into something that lightens the load.
Perhaps the invitation of Hiroshima’s cranes is not only to remember but also to practice: to notice what we carry, to honor it, and when possible, to fold it into something that points toward peace and healing.
Resources to Explore:
About the Memorial. https://childrenspeacememorial.org/about-the-memorial/
What You Can Do. https://childrenspeacememorial.org/paper-cranes/
