Who was Sadako? How old was she when she died?
Sadako Sasaki was a girl who became famous for foldingorigamicranes while she was dying from leukemia. Sadako was born in 1943 and lived in Hiroshima, where an atomic bomb was dropped in August 1945. When she was 11 years old, Sadako became sick because of radiation from the bomb. Her friend told her about a Japanese legend that folding 1,000 paper cranes would bring a person a long life, so Sadako began to fold cranes. Despite her prayers, she died in 1955, at the age of 12. Now the paper crane has become a symbol of peace, and every year children from all over the world send thousands of cranes to Hiroshima to commemorate Sadako’s story and to pray for peace. Find out how to fold a paper crane in ourVirtual Culturesection.
