Atom Bomb Dome, Hiroshima, Japan
click for large image
Haibun for Sadako
Becky Bunsic (tukiko)
When Hiroshima was bombed on August 6, 1945, the Sasaki family was
spared. Or so it seemed. Sadako Sasaki was only two at the time, and
until she was twelve, she grew strong and healthy. She was the fastest
runner on her school relay team.
One day at school, Sadako felt strange and dizzy. This is a
feeling that she would keep secret until weeks later while running, everything
seemed to whirl around her and she sank to the ground. Sadako had
leukemia, "the atom bomb disease."
While she was in the hospital, her closest friend reminded her of
the old Japanese legend that if she folded a thousand paper cranes, the
gods might grant her wish to be well again. With courage and faith,
Sadako began folding.
Even though she was only able to fold 644 cranes before she died,
Sadako had a profound impact on her friends and classmates. They
completed her thousand cranes and raised money from school children all over
Japan to build a statue to honor Sadako and all the children affected by
the bomb. Today, in Hiroshima's Peace Park, there is a statue of Sadako
standing on top of a granite pedestal holding a golden crane in her
outstretched arms. At its base a plaque reads:
This is our cry.
This is our prayer.
Peace in the world.
Every year, the children from around the world fold cranes and
send them to Hiroshima where they are placed around the statue. Because
of Sadako, the paper crane has become an international symbol of peace.
Since Japan is the country I love second only to America, I have studied World War II
in depth. When I first read about Sadako, her story touched me very deeply
so I wrote this haiku in her honor:
paper cranes-
one thousand peace wishes
at Sadako's feet
When my daughter Mandi was in the 4th grade, her teacher told them
about Sadako. When she asked the children to see if their parents
had anything at home about Sadako, my daughter piped up with "My mommy loves
the story of Sadako! She has all kinds of stuff!" When she
came home and told me what she was learning, I gladly volunteered my books, the CD by Liv
Ullmann narrating "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" and
sent along the instructions on how to fold a paper crane. I was happy to
know that my child was learning about this brave young girl and what she has
come to stand for in the years since her death.
another generation
learns about Sadako
her legacy lives on
My very best friend lives in Marugame, Japan, which is close to
the city of Hiroshima. Mandi and I will be visiting her in two years and
she has promised to take us there so that we may visit Sadako's statue in
the Peace Park. Mandi and I are in the process of folding one thousand
paper cranes so that we may lay them at Sadako's feet and offer our own silent
prayers and wishes for peace in the world. Now that my daughter is
thirteen years old, the story of Sadako touches me even more. She was only
a year younger than Mandi when she died. I couldn't possibly begin to
imagine the heartbreak of losing a child for any reason and losing her to
something so horrible is even more unimaginable to me. This is why I want
Sadako's story to be as familiar to everyone in the world as it is to every child
in Japan. This is my cry, this is my prayer. Peace in the world.
my daughter and I
fold prayers for peace
in the shape of a crane
Next: The
Three Seconds When the World Went Mad, haiku series
