Paper Cranes For the World Recreating Sasaki Sadako’s Paper Cranes in Metal
Sasaki Sadako, the model for the Statue of Genbaku-no Ko in the Peace Memorial Park, was exposed to the atomic bombing at the age of two at her home, approximately 1.6 km from ground zero. 10 years later, at the age of 12, she was diagnosed with leukemia, and passed away after a long battle with the disease. She believed in a legend stating that if you fold 1,000 paper cranes, you will be granted one wish, and went on to fold more than 1,300 paper cranes in her hospital bed. On August 6, 2021, her paper cranes were brought to life once more as metal cranes. The project was undertaken by CASTEM, a precision casting manufacturer in Fukuyama City (Hiroshima Prefecture). We asked Ikeda Shinichi, the project leader, about why the project began, what difficulties they faced, and his thoughts on peace.