November 4, 2010

A Thousand Prayers


Have you ever seen a Senbazuru (千羽鶴) before?

Senbazuru means "a thousand cranes," which is what it really is. They are paper cranes made from origami, strung together with string. It's traditional to make this Senbazuru for people who we want to wish good luck to or to get better. Every crane we make is like a prayer.

I found this Senbazuru at a shrine, which is one of the places people bring it to, to pray for the well-being of others. It even had beads at the end of the strings. I hope their prayer was answered.

19 comments:

Babzy.B said...

it's beautiful ! i like orogami , and i never seen this before :)

Babzy.B said...

it's beautiful ! i like orogami , and i never seen this before :)

Michael Valčić said...

Wow, I love all of the colors!

Copenhagen said...

I make those a couple of times but I wonder how one hook them all up together.

Halcyon said...

I have seen one!!! I was in a play once called 1,000 Cranes. It's a story about a young Japanese girl who got leukemia from the Hiroshima bombing. We had to fold cranes for the set decorations. I can't remember how to do it anymore though...

Lois said...

How pretty! I have never seen one before.

VP said...

I like the idea and the colors. As often happens here I knew nothing about this, but I am learning...

cieldequimper said...

Oh this is so lovely!

Unknown said...

Yes, saw a few at the temples. But not with beads. Fascinating - I love the symbolism.

Anonymous said...

Not seen before. Wearing a circle of cranes as a Tattoo, makes this bird always special, representing mostly life and its strength for me. Please have a good and safe Friday.


daily athens

Al said...

I have never seen these before. That looks impressive, it must take a lot of work! Thank you for sharing this part of your culture.

T. Becque said...

I read this story, 1000 Paper Cranes, to my students. One time I tried to make the cranes with my students, who were very excited to do so, but it didn't work out so well with 27 eight year olds who can't follow detailed directions!

arabesque said...

it is indeed beautiful esp. with the beads and a wonderful wishing prayer.
i wish i could make strings of that,
but i doubt it if i can make an origami, i'm just bad at it, teehee! ^0^

Kaori said...

Hi everyone! Thank you for the comments :-D

Halcyon, wow I had no idea that story was so famous! I bet once you try you'll remember it like it was yesterday ;-)

T. Becque, you tried to teach 27 kids all at once??? You're one brave teacher :-D

Arabesque, you should try! It's fun :-D

Unknown said...

This is just lovely! Thank you for letting me know about it.

Francisca said...

Yes! I saw a beautiful 1000 Crane tree in the town my sister lives, in British Columbia, Canada, last Christmas, and I researched it then, because it looked so fascinating to me, but I did not learn then that it is called a Senbazuru.

Unknown said...

Thats a nice way of praying! its beautiful! :)

Unknown said...

Interesting and colorful!
:D

this too will pass said...

cool!!

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