千羽鶴

Origami is said to have started back in 8th century Japan. The first known book about it, published in 1797, was titled “Hiden Senbazuru Orikata”, or the Secret to Folding One-Thousand Cranes.

It is said that if a person folds 1,000 origami paper cranes they will receive a wish.

The most widely known story of this involves a young girl named Sadako Sasaki. At two years old, Sadako was in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped, about one mile from her home. She was about 12 when she first started showing signs of leukemia and was hospitalized shortly thereafter. She started making cranes in hopes of getting better.Unfortunately she died later that same year. Although accounts vary on whether she completed the senbazuru or not, she’s inspired many others to create senbazurus as symbols for peace and they can be found outside many temples in Japan.

My wish is a little difference. I wish for a world without sexual violence. Each one of the 1,000 cranes in the senbazuru I’ll construct represents a time I’ve dreamed of this. 1,000 paper dreams becoming 1,000 paper cranes.