A member of my extended family faced a major illness a couple of years ago, and a Japanese friend folded 1000 cranes for him. This is how it was presented:
Wishing you good health!
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Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Folding 1000 Cranes
A member of my extended family faced a major illness a couple of years ago, and a Japanese friend folded 1000 cranes for him. This is how it was presented:
Wishing you good health!
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Hello Mark, That thousand-crane artwork is astonishing in its design and execution. I never would have guessed that it was made of interlocking cranes. I hope that it helped your relative to recover.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the real curative or lucky power in these is in knowing that you have a friend who cares about you enough to take the time and effort to fold one thousand cranes.
--Road to Parnassus
Hello, Jim,
DeleteRegarding the second part of your comment, I've been reading a fascinating book on longevity, titled "The Blue Zones." It documents pockets of the world where there are high rates of people living to 100 and older. What I found interesting about the book is that mind over matter is a big factor, and genetics is a smaller factor than one would guess. Of course there are other factors, like simpler lives and better food sources.
Dear Mark, this is incredible! What a beautiful custom. And what a beautiful sculpture 1000 folded paper cranes make. Thank you for sharing what was totaly unknown to me.
ReplyDeleteDear Gina,
DeleteI'd never seen a presentation like this either, and I knew I wanted to share with my blogging friends the moment I saw it!
Wow. Beautiful and amazing.
ReplyDeleteHi, Scott - Truly a labor of love.
DeleteDear Mark - this is lovely - who would imagine that pieces of coloured paper could look so beautiful. I love the thinking behind the making of it too.
ReplyDeleteI must show it to my grandson who is very nifty with his hands when it comes to making origami.
Dear Rosemary,
DeleteI was thinking of your grandson as I was posting this. Perhaps it will inspire him to even create a different interpretation. I should add that while the cranes are interlocking, they are also threaded.
Unbelievable! I've never seen anything like it.
DeleteHi, Steve - I'm glad you enjoyed it.
DeleteAbsolutely incredible! And so beautifully presented. At first glance, I thought it was a Missoni scarf.
ReplyDeleteHello, Loi — When I first saw it, I thought it was cloth, too.
DeleteDear Mark,
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely thing to do for someone. We have a sizeable Japanese community here and each year the children make the paper cranes and give them to various people as gifts.
We also have a 1000 cranes presented in the same way, in our school entrance. It is kept in a glass case.
Dear Kirk,
DeleteI'm curious to know — are the cranes encased at your school presented as a color spectrum as well?
Yes they are Mark; that is what struck me when I saw yours. I had imagined that because children made ours they had chosen different colours but that others would be all white.
DeleteI would think that 1000 white cranes would be very beautiful, but then I suppose that the gradation with which we are both familiar would be so much more rewarding to make!
DeleteThat is extraordinary and I particularly welcome the wishes of good health, having overexposed myself to the cocktail bar last night. Self-inflicted, so perhaps I don't deserve it, and should suffer in silence.
ReplyDeleteDear Columnist,
DeleteIt sounds as though I should wish you a "hair of the dog!" I hope you're feeling better!
What a gorgeous creation, Mark. What an inspiring idea. What patience the creator must have had. Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Parnassus, about the curative powers of knowing that you have the kind of wonderful friend who would do this.
Dear Yvette - I very much believe that consciousness — whether good or bad — draws the same to itself. Ideally, then, the creation should be made by the one to be healed, as in the original story. But having good friends is certainly healing in itself.
DeleteThis is such a tribute to a friendship. I have never seen them presented this way either. I bought one beautiful crane in Chinatown in SF that is in a prominent place. They are beautiful in their own right. Beautiful post Mark!
ReplyDeleteDear Theresa - I have not been to San Francisco in ages — I'm long overdue. I have a photograph of a different origami crane made by the same artist, a much more comlicated series of folds. I'll feature that in another post . . .
Delete