1,000 Origami Paper Cranes: Why Make a Senbazuru?
What if you could have one wish? What would it be? According to Japanese tradition, folding 1,000 paper cranes gives you a chance to make one special wish come true. In some variations of the tradition, you may be granted happiness and eternal good luck, instead of just one wish, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury. The crane is an auspicious creature in Japanese folklore (the dragon and tortoise, too). The crane is said to live for 1,000 years—the significance behind the quantity you need to fold. Some believe that one person must fold 1,000 cranes within one year in order to get the blessings of that wish. Origami cranes (orizuru) that are folded into a group of 1,000 are known as a senbazuru. The individual cranes are often strung along a string so they can be hung from the ceiling. The cranes are typically made from many different colors and patterns of paper, so they are a bright and cheerful decoration. "Sen" means "thousand" in Japanese. As you might expect, fol
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