Fact #61024

Sadako Sasaki, a girl who lived in Hiroshima, Japan, at the time of the 1945 atomic bombing by the United States, dies of leukemia, aged 12, having spent the last days of her brief life folding origami cranes in the belief that anyone who folds 1000 paper cranes would be granted a wish by the Gods. In her case, she simply wished to live but managed only 644 cranes before the illness finally consumed her. Sadako's tragedy will inspire the songs Song For Sadako Sasaki by Oguz Altinbas, One Thousand Paper Cranes by Maggie Stiefvater [2012], Sadako's Song by Mary Hulefield [2012] and Sadako Folding Cranes [2013] by Laura Veirs.


One Thousand Paper Cranes