Children's Peace Monument
The is a
monument for peace to commemorate Sadako
Sasaki and the thousands of child victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and
is located in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
, itself in the city of Hiroshima. Designed by native artists Kazuo Kikuchi
and Kiyoshi Ikebe, the monument was built using money derived from
a fund-raising campaign by Japanese school children including
Sadako's classmates, with the main statue entitled 'A-bomb
Children' being unveiled on the 5th of
May, 1958, or (Children's Day in
Japan
). Sadako is immortalized at the top of the
statue, where she holds a crane.
Thousands of origami cranes from all
over the world are offered around the monument on a daily basis,
with ancient Japanese tradition holding that one who folds a
thousand cranes can have one wish granted. 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 fact that Sadako died from
radiation-induced leukemia after folding just under a thousand
cranes, wishing for world peace. Beneath the main structure lies a
bronze crane that works as a wind chime when pushed against a
traditional peace bell from which it is suspended, the two pieces
having been donated by
Nobel Laureate in
Physics
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.
Sister statue
The
monument inspired a youth-funded and designed sister statue in
Santa Fe, New
Mexico
, USA
, in the state where "Little Boy
", the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, was built.
The sister statue was dedicated in 1995, the 50th anniversary of
the bombings.
See also
Notes and references
- Peace Memorial Park Virtual Museum web
site
External links