Senbatwolu or 1000 paper cranes

SENBATWOLU or a thousand paper cranes !!

A 1000 ORIGAMI PAPER CRANES STRUNG IN COLOURFUL CHAINS !!

SENBATWOLU : Japanese symbol for PEACE!!

Japanese Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, Sayaka Hori, was the one to introduce this beautiful symbolic custom to the members of the Rotary community in Utrecht, The Netherlands. What made her devote many hours to folding paper cranes to get to the magic number of 1000?

During her scholarship year (studying water management) she had come into contact with

Dutch citizens whose youth had lain in the Dutch East Indies where they were caught up in the second World War and 4 to 5 years of occupation of that former Dutch colony by the Japanese Imperial army. Certainly nobody today blames Sayaka, child of a later generation, for these events of over sixty years ago. However, she decided to make a beautiful gesture: her personal wish for Peace by creating SENBATWOLU: a thousand paper cranes. Thanks to the nimble fingers of her friends in Holland and Japan, her family and relatives, the head of an elementary school in Japan and his pupils, the 1000 cranes grew to a stunning 3000! At the home of Rotary scholarship coordinator Marianne van Iterson from Rotary Club Bunnik (whose bookcase is witness to her wartime experience) the many chains of cranes were presented, with Sayaka explaining to a small gathering of interested friends and relations her strong purpose: to leave tangible evidence of her wish for International Understanding and Peace, which is one of the important intentions behind the Rotary scholarship programme. It was a moving ceremony that will definitely not be forgotten by those present.

Later that autumn of 2011 Sayaka’s colourful chains were to get a more permanent and fitting location at the hospitable office of the Indisch Herinneringscentrum (memorial centre for the history of the former Dutch East Indies) at Bronbeek in the town of Arnhem. The beautiful grounds of this centre for former war veterans are host to a group of memorial statues to commemorate victims of the Japanese occupation. Sayaka was accompanied by Rotarians and other friends impressed by Sayaka’s wish to show her hope for future peace in our world.

The paper chains and their symbolic meaning can be viewed by anybody interested in this interesting and most impressive story, for which we thank Sayaka Hori from Kyoto, Japan.

November 2011