7-1 Humanities Project
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Southern New Hampshire University *
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Course
100
Subject
Arts Humanities
Date
Jan 9, 2024
Type
docx
Pages
5
Uploaded by BarristerThunder11980
7-1 Project
HUM-100-X5481
P
ERSPECTIVES
IN
THE
H
UMANITIES
A
LANA
A
LDRIDGE
This work is called “Atomic Bomb Children” and it was created by Kazuo Kikuchi and
Kiyoshi Ikebe in 1958. The statue is the memorial of Sadako Sasaki, a school-age girl who died
from a disease brought on by the radiation from the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima
on August 6, 1945. The statue is a stone, dome-shaped monument that stands nine meters (29.5
FT) high, topped with a bronze statue of a young girl (Sadako Sasaki) lifting a golden paper
crane. The dome also features two statues of a boy and a girl on either side, symbolizing a bright
future and hope. Inscribed on the dome are the words “This is our cry. This is our prayer. Build
peace in the world.” I first saw this work when a friend of mine told me the story of the paper
crane and how a story has been passed down through the ages that if one folds 1000 paper
cranes, then their wish will be granted. When I investigated the history behind the paper crane,
the story of the young girl, Sadako Sasaki, was tied to it. That is when I came across the “Atomic
Bomb Children” that was erected in her honor. The element that really stood out to me was the
simplicity of a paper crane. It’s merely a piece of paper, yet it was what drove a sick girl to
continue to hope that she would recover from her illness and then that there could be world
peace. A paper crane sparked a great work of art. A paper crane told a story all on its own and
changed the story of many more. Over 3,100 schools in Japan and nine schools internationally
donated to the cause of erecting the statue of a girl whose story has changed the world. The
creators of the “Atomic Bomb Children” wanted to commemorate Sadako Sasaki and the
thousands of child victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. To ask if they were successful is
like asking if the sky is blue. The message is loud and clear. Over 10,000,000 Orizuru or paper
cranes are offered to the statue in Hiroshima peace park from all over the world every year.
Orizuru is now known as a symbol of peace. Whenever you look up paper cranes or the history
of paper cranes, you will always read a small excerpt of Sadako and her story. She has influenced
and changed the original meaning of the paper crane symbolizing honor, good fortune, loyalty,
and longevity to the meaning of peace. While many from Japan, China, Korea, Hawaii, and
many other Asian cultures and countries still believe in the original folklore tied to the paper
crane, they acknowledge and stand in solidarity with the want and desire for peace that came
with this young girl.
The legacy of Sadako Sasaki has not only impacted the survivors of the bombing of
Hiroshima but many others around the world. Her family donated over a hundred cranes that she
made to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which has agreed to give them back to her
family one crane at a time. Her brother Masahiro Sasaki, the co-founder of the NPO Sadako
Legacy, began donating Sadako’s Paper cranes around the world to places that needed healing
starting in 2007. They have donated cranes through the Sadako Legacy Organization to places
like the National September 11 Memorial Museum in NYC, the Pearl Harbor USS Arizona
Memorial, The Peace Library at the Austrian Study Center for Peace, the city of Okinawa, the
city of São Paolo, Brazil, and one to the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence,
Missouri. In addition to giving her paper cranes to memorials around the world, Japan received a
paper crane welded from the World Trade Center debris gifted by the 9/11 family association in
2012 as a symbol of hope and resilience in the face of the disaster that hit Japan in 2011, a
devastating earthquake that triggered an even more devastating tsunami which caused a core
meltdown at Fukushima Dia Ichi Nuclear Power Plant. People and places all over the world are
consoled by the gifting of Sadako’s cranes in the wake of their own disasters and in turn have
gifted Japan with their own paper cranes in response to the kindness and wish for peace and
healing from the family of Sadako.
The events of war have affected many countries and they have chosen to memorialize
these effects differently. Does the Japanese culture affect their acts of creative expression? Or do
their acts of creative expression affect their culture? Why did they choose peace to be the center
of their art? Has their culture and history affected how future generations choose to express
themselves?
The creators of this work of art wanted to commemorate Sadako Sasaki and the
thousands of children who lost their lives and families due to the atomic bomb that was dropped
on Hiroshima during World War 2. However, I believe that there was something more that they
wanted to say. Even though the war has tried to break them, through creative expression like this,
like Kintsugi, the process of repairing ceramics traditionally with lacquer and gold, leaving a
gold seam where the cracks were and giving them a new more refined aspect, they have chosen
to repair and rebuild with gold. Not in the literal sense, but metaphorically they have used their
want for peace to strengthen them. I think to fully understand how this culture believes and
expresses itself is found in their history. All the way back to the Feudal Era of Japan. You see it
in their resilience and determination to become stronger through their pain and suffering. You
need to see how they treat nature as a form of peace itself. From sitting under trees during the
blossoming of the Cherry Blossom trees to their expressive art such as this, you see that peace is
the center of their lifestyle.
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It is my personal opinion that people seek to express themselves in ways such as this and
many other ways because we as humans do not want to feel alone. We want to show how we
feel. With a work of art like this, it was brought on by a bomb that changed the lives of many.
The culture truly changed from war to peace. This statue was just the physical representation of
the want for peace in a time of war. Japan and many other countries stood together in their desire
for the same concept, Peace.
With many works of creative expression like this, they have impacted cultures and people
far and wide. This work of art began as a young girl folding paper hoping that it would cure her
of disease, and it transformed into a global want for peace. Seeing and knowing this I believe
that creative expression can change the world and how we choose to live in it. There have been
countless works of art that are powerful and have changed cultures to believe that there is more
to life than just our constant battles with each other and ourselves. We must be brave enough to
let that creativity out and fill the world with one act of expression at a time.
Citations and References
Beser, A. M. (2015, August 28).
How Paper Cranes Became a Symbol of Healing in
Japan
. National Geographic.
https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2015/08/28/how-paper-cranes-
became-a-symbol-of-healing-in-japan/
(2022, April 4).
The Origami Crane (TSURU): Symbolism and Folklore
. Central
Michigan University Libraries.
https://libguides.cmich.edu/c.php?g=1217908#:~:text=The
%20Origami%20Crane%20(TSURU)%3A%20Symbolism%20and%20Folklore&text=Some
%20say%20she%20decided%20to,symbol%20of%20hope%20and%20peace
.
(n.d.).
Paper Cranes and Children's Peace Monument
. The City of Hiroshima.
https://www.city.hiroshima.lg.jp/site/english/158105.html
(n.d.).
Children's Peace Monument
. Hiroshima Peace Tourism.
https://peace-
tourism.com/en/spot/entry-75.html
(n.d.).
Children's Peace Monument
. Hiroshima for Global Peace.
https://hiroshimaforpeace.com/en/childrens-peace-monument/