About the Crane Club
A decade of student-led peace, international friendship, and quiet acts of remembrance in the city that taught the world what peace means.
Founded in 2014
Started by five HIS students who wanted to honor Sadako's wish through student-led peace projects.
25 nationalities
Our members come from across Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas — a true international community.
10,000+ cranes
Folded by hand, given to survivors, hospitals, peace museums, and visiting dignitaries.
The Thousand Cranes story
In 1955, twelve-year-old Sadako Sasaki was diagnosed with leukemia — the "atomic bomb disease" — ten years after the Hiroshima bombing. Confined to her hospital bed, she began folding paper cranes, inspired by the old Japanese belief that folding one thousand cranes grants a wish.
Sadako folded 1,300 cranes by hand before her death in October 1955. Her classmates published her story in Kokeshi, and children across Japan began sending cranes to Hiroshima. The Children's Peace Monument now stands in her memory at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
The Crane Club was founded to keep Sadako's wish alive — not as a wish for ourselves, but as a wish for a peaceful world. Every crane we fold is folded for someone we will never meet, in a future we hope to help build.