As a school teacher, I made 1,000 cranes with my students for the physical recovery of certain students. We also made 1,000 cranes when we went on school trips to Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Okinawa for victims of A-bomb and war. We wished for peace and remembered the victims. I happened to know the story behind the 1,000 cranes of Sadako Sasaki.

For me an origami crane is like a language to express my love, gratitude, wishes and prayers…and much more.http://youtu.be/xxhLh95IbGg Sayaka is a high school girl in Japan who loves anime and the origami crane. I would like to share her skills and authentic Japanese manner. Please enjoy these pictures and video.

Origami (折り紙, from ori meaning “folding”, and kami meaning “paper”) is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, which started in the 17th century at the latest and was popularized outside of Japan in the mid-1900s. It has since evolved into a modern art form. The goal of this art is to transform a flat sheet of paper into a finished sculpture through folding and sculpting techniques, and as such, the use of cuts or glue is not considered to be origami.

The number of basic origami folds is small, but they can be combined in a variety of ways to make intricate designs. The best-known origami model is probably the Japanese paper crane. In general, these designs begin with a square sheet of paper whose sides may be different colors or prints. Traditional Japanese origami, which has been practiced since the Edo era (1603–1867), has often been less strict about these conventions, sometimes cutting the paper or using nonsquare shapes to start with.

The principles of origami are also being used in stents, packaging, and other engineering structures.

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origami