Children's Peace Monument

Hiroshima Children's Peace Memorial
Hiroshima Children's Peace Memorial
	Hiroshima, Japan
Coordinates	34°23′39″N 132°27′10″E / 34.39414°N 132.45277°E
Created	May 5, 1958
Status	Open all year
Website	Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

The Children's Peace Monument (原爆の子の像, Genbaku no Ko no Zō, lit. "Atomic Bomb Children Statue") is a monument for peace to commemorate

Hiroshima, Japan. Sadako Sasaki, a young girl, died of leukemia

from radiation of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945.

Overview

The monument is located in

Thousands of origami cranes from all over the world are offered around the monument. They serve as a sign that the children who make them and those who visit the statue desire a world without nuclear war, having been tied to the statue by the story that Sadako died from radiation-induced leukemia after folding just under a thousand cranes, wishing for world peace. However, an exhibit which appeared in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum stated that by the end of August 1955, Sadako had achieved her 1000-crane goal and continued to fold more cranes. Unfortunately, her wish was not granted and she died of the leukemia on October 25, 1955. Her main reason of death was from the radiation poisoning from the atomic bomb Little Boy. The organization, Nihon Hidankyo, received the Nobel Peace Prize

on October 11, 2024, for their effort to create a world free of nuclear weapons and to prove through eyewitness testimony that nuclear weapons should never be used again.

Monument

Beneath the main structure hangs a bronze crane that works as a wind chime when pushed against a traditional peace bell from which it is suspended. The two pieces were donated by Nobel Prize winner, Hideki Yukawa.

At the base of the monument is a black marble slab on which is inscribed in Japanese:

これはぼくらの叫びです　これは私たちの祈りです　世界に平和をきずくための
(Kore wa bokura no sakebi desu. Kore wa watashitachi no inori desu. Sekai ni heiwa o kizuku tame no).
"This is our cry, this is our prayer: for building peace in the world".

The figures that surround the monument are two children, a boy and a girl, representing both the tens of thousands of children who, like Sadako, died because of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima as well as the children around the world who desire peace.

Today, people all around the world have the opportunity to donate cranes that they have folded in honor of Sadako and the others. The paper crane is a symbol of peace, which was her last dying wish.

References

Ministries, Global. "Global Ministries". Global Ministries - Fold Paper Cranes in Honor of Sadako. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
https://web.archive.org/web/20160512231455/http://www.city.hiroshima.lg.jp/www/contents/1110438305305/index.html

External links

Overview

Monument

See also

References

External links