The symbol of which is the crane. The meaning of the origami crane: an ancient legend and manufacturing technique with step-by-step photographs

The Japanese crane "tsuru" is a symbol of longevity and a happy life. There is a beautiful ancient legend according to which, if you lovingly and carefully fold a thousand (senbazuru) of these cranes, give them to others and receive a thousand smiles in return, your cherished wish will come true.

***Once upon a time, there lived a very poor master on earth who devoted his entire life to origami and was amazingly kind to everyone and everything that surrounded him. He spent whole days folding various figures from sheets of paper, and then distributed them to the children. But one day he met a wandering monk on the road and gave him a figurine of a crane. The monk was touched. Then he said: “Stack your figures further. The main thing is your belief in their importance. Even if there is war around, stay true to your art, and it will thank you by making you rich and famous.”

Soon, as the monk prophesied, the war began. The young men went off to fight, but there was no end in sight to this horror. Only the poor master stubbornly continued to waste paper on his figures. Angry, the people decided to burn down his workshop. But when they found themselves in it, they were amazed at the variety and splendor of the figures. Then the master gave everyone a figurine according to their liking and taste. In front of the guests, the master rolled a crane out of a leaf, which immediately flapped its wings and flew away - it was messenger of peace. People believed in themselves, were inspired, and soon victory was theirs.***

This story began in 1945 - when the Japanese girl Sadaka was 2 years old, a nuclear bomb fell on her hometown of Hiroshima. Her house was located a mile from the explosion, yet outwardly she continued to grow up as a healthy child.

10 years later, the girl fell ill with radiation sickness. One day, a friend, visiting her in the hospital, brought with her a sheet of gilded paper and made a crane out of it. She told Sadako an old Japanese legend: whoever folds 1000 paper cranes will receive one wish from fate - a long life, a cure for illness or injury. The crane will bring this desire in its beak.

Sadako folded cranes as best she could from any paper she could find, but she only managed to make 644 cranes. On October 25, 1955, Sadako passed away. Her friends finished their work and Sadako was buried along with a thousand paper cranes. Alas, the disease won. But the white crane remained a symbol of hope. And a symbol of peace without war.

Three years later, a monument appeared - on a high pedestal, a fragile girl holds a crane above her head, soaring upward. The authors called the monument the Children's Monument to Peace. Locals more often call it the Obelisk of Paper Cranes.

It stands surrounded by the large trees of the Peace Park, very close to the place where the atomic pillar shot into the sky on August 6, 1945. Today, many senbazuru are enclosed in glass enclosures around the monument.

Words by Vladimir Lazarev
Music by Seraphim Tulikov

Returning from Japan, having walked many miles,
A friend brought me a Japanese crane,
And with this little crane the story is the same,
About a girl who was irradiated.

You are an ever-living souvenir.

“When will I see the sun?” - I asked the doctor.
And life stretched on thinly, like a candle in the wind.
And the doctor answered the girl: “Spring will come again,
And you will make a thousand cranes yourself.”

I'll spread paper wings for you,
Fly and disturb this world, this world,
Crane, crane, Japanese crane,
You are an ever-living souvenir.

But the girl did not survive and soon died,
And she didn’t make a thousand cranes.
The last little crane fell from children's hands -
And the girl did not survive, like many around.

I'll spread paper wings for you,
Fly and disturb this world, this world,
Crane, crane, Japanese crane,
You are an ever living souvenir.

At the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, paper cranes made by Sadako are placed next to a mock-up of an atomic bomb as two incompatible symbols of life and death.

One of the most famous origami figures around the world is the classic Japanese crane. Its pattern is so popular that some origamists fold many bird figurines several times. It is believed that if you make a crane at least once, you begin to take the art of origami in general seriously.

Meaning of origami crane

Perhaps the paper crane pattern is one of the oldest, as it was first mentioned in Japanese origami books of the 18th century. The meaning of the origami Japanese crane is interpreted as a wish-granter. Even in those distant times, a legend arose according to which, if you want your most cherished dream to come true, you need to make a thousand birds out of paper. Of particular importance is that the cranes made must be distributed to family and friends. By the way, it is generally recommended to distribute these products to strangers. Such a gift means that the person thereby does 1000 good deeds. So go ahead, towards the fulfillment of your desires.

How to make it yourself

To assemble everyone’s favorite wish granter, you need to carefully study the diagram of how to make an origami crane, which describes in detail all the stages of creating a figurine. You don’t need any additional tools here, just a piece of paper, the main thing is that it is thick.

Making products using this origami technique, if you learn the special symbols used to make sketches of diagrams. So, in order to create such a figurine, you need to take a square sheet of paper.

And fold it diagonally:

The upper triangle must be straightened to form a square.

The corner is straightened back into a square, as follows:

We bend the top layer of the side corners into the middle:

Now we return the corners to their place.

The top layer of the resulting bend turns upward.

Now the workpiece is turned over again and bends are made in the middle.

In the culture of many nations, the crane is considered a lucky symbol, personifying love of freedom, loyalty, and vigilance. And indeed, a crane wedge floating in the blue sky will probably not leave anyone indifferent. In spring it symbolizes the return of warmth, in autumn it warns that winter is just around the corner. Meeting cranes is always a joyful event, but they are seen off with sadness. According to the different moods of a person, it was believed that in spring and autumn birds coo differently - cheerfully or sadly
Tantyozuru - the red-headed Japanese crane (tante means "red head") - has been an integral attribute of Japanese culture since ancient times, symbolizing longevity and prosperity. Cranes as an image and theme are found in almost all types of traditional Japanese arts. The Japanese have a popular saying and wish: “A crane lives a thousand years, a turtle lives ten thousand years.” It was reduced to the names of these animals, pronounced as one word - tsurukame, which means a wish for a long life.
Images of cranes, for their majestic beauty, are very often used as decorations on household items, in memorial signs and emblems. On postage stamps issued for special events, one of the elements of the compositions is often a crane.
Everywhere in Japan there is a legend about a wounded crane that turned into a beautiful girl who married the young man who saved her. The girl turned out to be an excellent weaver. In the form of a crane, she wove amazing fabrics from her feathers, closing herself off from everyone in the room. When her husband spied on her, she became a bird again and flew away.
It is believed that if cranes turn into people, they often take the form of wandering monks and travel in search of those who need their help. There are other Japanese legends associated with cranes, and everywhere cranes are a symbol of purity, happiness, honesty, and readiness for selfless help. According to one belief, a person's wish will come true if he folds a thousand sembazuru cranes out of paper.
If a person is seriously ill, then relatives and friends make a thousand paper cranes and present them to him. Often such a demonstration of love really gives the patient strength and helps to overcome the disease.
There is another version of sembazuru, when the patient himself must make a thousand cranes and thereby demonstrate his perseverance, his desire for life. This option was developed in the post-war years. The whole world remembers the story of the Hiroshima girl Sadako Sasaki, who survived the atomic bombing at the age of four and died of radiation sickness at the age of 14. Sadako began folding paper cranes with the hope that they would help her get better, but she only managed to make 643 cranes. She folded the last one, having already lost her sight. The remaining 1,357 cranes were made by children from the class in which Sadako studied. Sadako became the prototype for a sculpture installed in the Peace Park in Hiroshima in memory of the child victims of the atomic bomb. The figure of a girl cast in bronze holds a crane, her last. To some extent, the belief about sembazuru in relation to Sadako was justified. She died, but she remained to live in memory. It has become a tradition according to which schoolchildren who come on excursions to Hiroshima must visit the Peace Park and come to the monument, leaving bundles of pre-prepared paper cranes with it.
In China, the crane was associated with immortality, in Africa with the gift of speech, and is also widespread throughout the world as a symbol of communication with the gods. His spring flights became a symbol of spiritual and physical rebirth. This symbolism is often borrowed from Christian art.
In ancient Greece, the calls of the crane during migration announced the time of spring sowing and the beginning of harvest. This bird was the personification of vigilance, which perhaps goes back to the work of Aristotle, who described a crane holding a stone in its beak in such a way that if sleep overcame it, the stone would fall and wake it. In China, the image of a crane flying towards the sun is a symbol of social aspirations, its snow-white body - purity, its red head - the fire of life. In Egypt, the two-headed crane is a symbol of prosperity.

The crane is a fairly ancient bird, glorified in poetry and prose. The image of this bird has found its place in the practice of Feng Shui.
It is believed that cranes outlived even dinosaurs, and during their centuries-long existence on Earth, their appearance has undergone transformation more than once. Around 160 AD. the crane turns snow-white. After a thousand years, it turns blue - the blue bird of good luck, happiness. Another 1000 years will pass, and the cranes will become black, like anthracite.

Crane - a strong-winged mythical bird

Over its long life, this bird has become the hero of a huge number of legends, myths, an object of veneration and a symbol of certain qualities.
In ancient mythology it is repeatedly described how the crane was revered by the Gods, and was a companion of three Gods at the same time:

The god of light Apollo revered the crane as a solar bird.
The god of trade, eloquence, and astrology, Hermes, when creating the first seven letters of the alphabet, was inspired by the flight of the crane.
For the goddess of fertility Demeter, the crane foreshadowed bountiful harvests.

Chinese mythology says that the crane is a strong-winged bird, given to accompany angels across the sky and the dead to the next world.

In the East, this bird is considered a symbol of morality, including justice, wisdom, and nobility. In addition, the crane is the bird of longevity - “xianhe” - the immortal crane is one of the ten symbols of eternal life. And cranes take strength for eternal life from the pure substance of fire and metal.

Crane in feng shui

As you noticed, the crane is a very powerful symbol and has a special place in Feng Shui. Since this bird represents good health, longevity, good luck in business and the happiness of the whole family, it is recommended to carry small pictures, medallions with images of cranes with you as a talisman or amulet.

In Japan, there are many beautiful legends associated with wildlife. Identifying animals, birds, trees with the best human qualities, the Japanese created their own unique culture, where every object or action has meaning. A whole galaxy of legends are associated with the crane, so the history of the Japanese crane is extremely interesting.

The meaning of cranes in Japanese mythology

Japanese cranes are one of the most beautiful and graceful birds. It grows up to one and a half meters and personifies grace and elegance. It is believed that the crane is a person, and the Japanese refer to these birds as an honorable citizen. According to some beliefs, cranes can take the form of people, in particular monks. Snow-white, it has only a red head and black feathers in the tail and wings.

Paying tribute to the nobility of these birds, whose numbers are declining, the Japanese equip them with the following image:

Houseware;
dishes;
decorations;
emblems;
stamps.

For the Japanese, this bird symbolizes longevity and hope. Origami in the form of a crane is known all over the world. Japanese paper cranes have a special history. They began to fold them back in medieval times, investing in the craft a deep meaning of wishes for longevity.

The name of the crane in Japanese has the symbol of a turtle in its hieroglyph, which gave it such an interpretation. There is a legend about a crane that was saved by a young man. The crane turned into a beautiful girl. She married this young man and sewed magnificent fabrics from her feathers. But when her husband spied on her, the girl turned into a bird again and flew away. This symbolizes the independence of the cranes.

Externally, the origami crane is very simple and the technology of folding it can be done not only by the Japanese. The simple paper design clearly highlights the main feature of the crane – its long, flexible neck.

The Japanese believe that if you fold a thousand of these origami, your wish will certainly come true, and the patient can be healed. Not so long ago, another meaning penetrated into the symbolism of the crane - a symbol of peace.

New meaning of the red-crowned crane

Today, the Japanese crane is better known not so much for its origami as for its song. The song "Japanese Crane" tells about an amazing story that happened during World War II.

After surviving the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the girl Sadako Sasaki received radiation sickness. The belief that by collecting a thousand origami she could recover, the girl made flexible necks of cranes out of paper. She managed to fold all 643 cranes, dying at the age of 14. In the last years of her life, the girl folded origami from any scraps of paper that came to her hand.

The song about the paper crane is written about this sad story. It talks about the difficult fate of a girl and the symbol of hope that is embedded in origami. The story of that girl is world famous; there is a monument dedicated to her in Japan. The history of the Japanese crane is multifaceted and carries deep meaning.

Even despite serious measures to preserve the species, they have not helped to effectively conserve the birds. However, the Japanese are very sensitive to the majestic crane, which symbolizes such significant health, longevity, faith, and peace. Many legends and beliefs are associated with the Japanese crane, but after the story of the girl from Hiroshima, the crane became a symbol of faith and longevity.

However, now the crane itself needs protection, so the irony of fate - the symbol of health itself is on the verge of extinction - requires increased attention to solving this problem, to which the Japanese devote a lot of effort.