Hanging cranes at Hiroshima Peace Memorial

Are people still allowed to bring cranes to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial to hang? Do they have to be 1000 cranes, can we bring less? thank you

I have never seen people bring cranes. There is a crane exhibition that showcases the many cranes in an awkward shaped display. But that is an art/historical/memorial fixture and not for you to hang your cranes. I do not see people walking around with cranes in the peace park.

I agree, I also did not see anyone hang their own cranes.

The display is not truly historical; from looking at it, I got the impression that the cranes in the cases are updated. The cranes in the cases were mostly donations from schools where the students had made them as a project.

Maybe just do a quick Google search for this? There are certainly lots of places to hand cranes, most publicly accessbile (i.e., not behind glass like the main display) and it would certainly be possible to hang your own if that is allowed. I doubt you'd need to prove you had 1000!

Actually, when I visited this spring I brought 500 cranes to the monument of Sadako (a friend will bring the other 500). There are plastic cabins where you can add them and there are even sheets which you can fill out with your name etc and the number of cranes you have donated.
From the look of it, only 70% went for the full 1000. The rest did only about 100 (but then bigger ones).

However, it seems that these donated cranes are recycled after a time. At least the nearby tourist centre says they are selling goods made of recycled cranes... ;) I was quite surprised when I read that. But this should not stop you! :)

Kind regards

I suppose you're talking about the "sen-ba-zuru" which is a traditional way of wishing something using a set of 1000 origami cranes. The point is to have people or a person fold cranes one by one so that as much as a thousand wishes come together as one. So ultimately there should be 1000 of them, and at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial the cranes are used to wish for peace.

You can't just randomly bring along this bulk set of folded paper and leave it there. There are rules. Here are the details.
http://www.city.hiroshima.lg.jp/www/contents/1335951009573/index.html

I've also noticed that there are people at the Memorial Park asking passersby to fold cranes so that they can add them together to be 1000.

Hope it helps.

Thanks for sharing, Uco. But these are rules for re-using the donated paper cranes - not for bringing them in the first place, aren't they?

The rules that where posted at the cabins near the monument just asked to fill out the form if you want to.

Whoops! Sorry, the following are the rules:
http://www.city.hiroshima.lg.jp/www/contents/1319176519331/index.html

http://www.city.hiroshima.lg.jp/www/contents/1319176678185/index.html

More details about the background of the cranes:
http://www.city.hiroshima.lg.jp/www/contents/1317171246290/index.html

Feel free to read further about it.
http://search.city.hiroshima.lg.jp/?ie=u&kw=cranes&x=0&y=0

next to shukkeien is also a statue of the small girl and it seems random people bring their cranes and put it there. i think noone minds if you add yours' there also. (but maybe there are some hidden rules somewhere, which i havnt figured out)

If you're talking about the "Yuki-tsubaki no Otome" statue near Shukkeien, in which the photo is shown around the middle of the following blog, the model of this statue is Sadako Sasaki who triggered the crane movement.
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/hirolin_m7/60559202.html

I couldn't find any information about people putting cranes around this statue. But the senba-zuru (thousand cranes) is typically made as a get-well-soon wish. When I was young, we used to make them in class whenever a classmate was hospitalized. So I wouldn't be surprised if people decorated this statue in memory of Sadako or people who suffered leukemia.

I would assume that some kind of a volunteer takes care of the paper cranes after a while to keep the area clean, so you may want to ask around at the spot before you leave it there.

I have placed 1000 cranes at the peace memorial Kiosk at Hiroshima. There is a form that you are supposed to fill out that is at the Kiosks. I don't remember which one it was at, but I picked it up on my first visit to Hiroshima, and took the 1000 cranes (twenty five strings, with fourty cranes strung on each) on my second trip.

So Yes, it is done.