Peace Park | |
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Sadako Sasaki statue in Peace Park | |
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Type | Urban Park |
Location | Seattle, Washington |
Coordinates | 47°39′21″N122°19′10″W / 47.65583°N 122.31944°W |
Established | 1990 |
Operated by | Seattle Parks and Recreation |
Peace Park is a park located in the University District of Seattle, Washington, at the corner of Northeast 40th Street and 9th Avenue Northeast, at the northern end of the University Bridge. Its construction was conceived and led by Floyd Schmoe, winner of the 1988 Hiroshima Peace Prize, and dedicated on August 6, 1990, 45 years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
The park was home to a full-size bronze statue of Sadako Sasaki, sculpted by Daryl Smith, which was cut off at the ankles and stolen in July of 2024. Schoolchildren and other community members from around the city of Seattle frequently draped strings of peace cranes on the statue following the Japanese custom of the one thousand origami cranes.
Seattle's Peace Park was dedicated on August 6, 1990, at the north end of University Bridge. The hillside site, which had been an unused area that was regularly crowded with garbage, was cleared and landscaped by volunteers under the leadership of peace activist Floyd Schmoe, the winner of the 1988 Hiroshima Peace Prize. Schmoe had been a University of Washington student during the incarceration of Japanese Americans and assisted fellow students affected by Executive Order 9066. [1] [2] He lobbied the city government to establish a peace park after receiving the 1988 Kiyoshi Tanimoto Peace Award from the Hiroshima Peace Center and used the $4,000 monetary award towards the project. [1]
The centerpiece of the park is Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, a bronze statue of Sadako Sasaki designed by sculptor Daryl Smith. [3] Sasaki was a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the age of two but later died of leukemia a decade later. During her hospitalization, she aimed to fold one thousand origami cranes, which continue to be placed on her statues in Seattle and Hiroshima. [1] [4] As of 2023 [update] , the statue is the only outdoor monument in Seattle's municipal art collection that honors a female historical figure. [5]
The efforts to fill the space under the statue with peace cranes come from Sadako's own attempt to fold 1000 cranes. Although she died after making 644 cranes, her story inspired those around her to continue the work she began. [6] The origami crane which is translated to orizuru in Japanese, carries a major cultural significance. It is believed that making 1000 cranes fulfills a person's goals and dreams, and was later deemed a peace effort in honor of Sadako. [6]
In December 2003, the statue was vandalized leaving damage to the ankle and a cut off right arm of the statue. [7] After the statue was vandalized, [8] a number of people, including Sadako's family, requested the statue be relocated to the more heavily trafficked Green Lake Park. Ultimately the Seattle Parks Department decided the statue should remain in the Peace Park, where it was re-installed in mid-January 2005. The statue was later restored after the community donated towards its repair and held a celebration continuing to honor Sasaki's legacy. [7]
In 2008, Peace Park was renovated by Seattle Parks and Recreation. This included new additions such as sidewalks, stairs, and pathways that connected other public parks and trails, such as the Cheshiahud Lake Union Loop. [1] The statue was vandalized again in September 2012 [3] but was later repaired.[ citation needed ]
On July 12, 2024, the statue was reported stolen by the Seattle Police Department. The majority of the statue was removed, except for the feet. [3] A local historian speculated that the 2024 incident was not politically-motivated vandalism, but theft for monetary reasons. [9]
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial, originally the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, and now commonly called the Genbaku Dome, Atomic Bomb Dome or A-Bomb Dome, is part of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
Sadako Sasaki was a Japanese girl who became a victim of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States. She was two years of age when the bombs were dropped and was severely irradiated. She survived for another ten years, becoming one of the most widely known hibakusha—a Japanese term meaning "bomb-affected person". She is remembered through the story of the more than one thousand origami cranes she folded before her death. She died at the age of 12 on October 25, 1955, at the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital.
Hibakusha is a word of Japanese origin generally designating the people affected by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States at the end of World War II.
Sadako is a Japanese name, commonly used for women. The same name can be written with a variety of kanji, and the meanings of the name differ accordingly:
Floyd Wilfred Schmoe was a Quaker, pacifist, author, college professor, marine biologist, and park ranger living in the Seattle, Washington, area for most of his life. He earned Japan's highest civilian honor for his peace activism and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times.
Eleanor Coerr was a Canadian-born American writer of children's books, including Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes and many picture books.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is a memorial park in the center of Hiroshima, Japan. It is dedicated to the legacy of Hiroshima as the first city in the world to suffer a nuclear attack at the end of World War II, and to the memories of the bomb's direct and indirect victims. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is visited by more than one million people each year. The park is there in memory of the victims of the nuclear attack on August 6, 1945, in which the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park was planned and designed by the Japanese Architect Kenzō Tange at Tange Lab.
The history of origami followed after the invention of paper and was a result of paper's use in society. In the detailed Japanese classification, origami is divided into stylized ceremonial origami and recreational origami, and only recreational origami is generally recognized as origami. However, this page describes the history of both ceremonial and recreational origami.
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is a museum located in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in central Hiroshima, Japan, dedicated to documenting the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in World War II.
The crane is considered a mystical or holy creature in Japan and is said to live for a thousand years. That is why one thousand origami cranes are made, one for each year. In some stories, it is believed that the cranes must be completed within one year and they must all be made by the person who will make the wish at the end.
The Children's Peace Monument is a monument for peace to commemorate Sadako Sasaki and the thousands of child victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. This monument is located in Hiroshima, Japan. Sadako Sasaki, a young girl, died of leukemia from radiation of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945.
The Day of the Bomb is a non-fiction book written by the Austrian author Karl Bruckner in 1961.
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes is a children's historical novel written by Canadian-American author Eleanor Coerr and published in 1977. It is based on the true story of Sadako Sasaki, a victim of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, in World War II, who set out to create a thousand origami cranes when dying of leukemia from radiation caused by the bomb.
This is a list of cultural products made about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It includes literature, film, music and other art forms.
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes is an album by musician George Winston with narration by actress Liv Ullmann, released in 1995. It comprises the soundtrack of the 1991 film of the same name, based on the 1977 book of the same name.
The orizuru, origami crane or paper crane, is a design that is considered to be the most classic of all Japanese origami. In Japanese culture, it is believed that its wings carry souls up to paradise, and it is a representation of the Japanese red-crowned crane, referred to as the "Honourable Lord Crane" in Japanese culture. It is often used as a ceremonial wrapper or restaurant table decoration. A thousand orizuru strung together is called senbazuru (千羽鶴), meaning "thousand cranes", and it is said that if someone folds a thousand cranes, they are granted one wish.
The Peace Crane Project was founded in 2013 by Sue DiCicco, in order to promote world peace and raise awareness of the International Day of Peace.
A statue of Christopher Columbus was installed in Richmond, Virginia in 1927, where it stood until 2020 when it was torn down by protestors in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and thrown into a nearby lake.
Masamoto Nasu was a Japanese children's writer.
The Historic Wendover Airfield is an aviation museum located at Wendover Airport in Wendover, Utah focused on the history of Wendover Air Force Base.