New Zealand Travel 77 Day 17 −8 – Origami Cranes with My Grandchild: Learning the Value of Culture and Craft

Recently, I had the opportunity to hold an origami class in my 7-year-old grandchild’s classroom. Together with my husband, we made “paku-paku” (flapping frogs), jumping frogs, and airplanes. A crane I had brought as a keepsake caught the attention of the homeroom teacher, who said, “This is Sadako’s crane,” which surprised me.

After class, it seems the teacher spoke to the children about the crane, and when my grandchild came home, they said, “I want to learn how to fold a crane someday.”

Having taught English in high school for 33 years, I know that origami plays an important role in cultural exchange. Wearing yukata, experiencing Japanese tea, or taking a simple Japanese language lesson are all cultural experiences, but origami allows children to engage with Japanese culture directly through their hands, without needing words. Cranes, in particular, are known worldwide as symbols of peace, and children naturally take an interest in them.

However, folding a crane is very difficult. Even with crease lines, opening it is tricky, aligning edges is hard, and shaping the wings can be vague, making it especially difficult for young children, though even adults and high school students may struggle.

So, I decided to break down the crane into 16 steps. Fold in half, fold in half again, make crease lines, lift the wings… I numbered each step and added arrows to indicate points to pay attention to so that the child would not get lost. The origami, divided into 16 steps, became 16 sheets.

Today, I folded a crane with my grandchild. At first, he was puzzled, but as he understood the purpose of the crease lines, he gradually grasped the process and could fold by himself. The final steps, shaping the head and tail, were too fine for him to do alone, so I helped, but even so, my grandchild said, “This is my first crane,” and we displayed it on a high shelf so that he could show it to Dad and Mommy.

My grandchild experienced the joy of creating something himself, and I was reminded of the cultural significance of the crane, the learning process, and the transmission of memories across generations. While the crane is a symbol of Japanese culture and peace, this experience showed me how important it is for the person folding it to guide and design the process thoughtfully.

With AI advancing so much today, I feel that if there were a way for anyone to fold a crane easily, it could be embraced not only by children in Japan but by people around the world.

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