Pupils embrace Japanese study

Matua School pupils (left to right) Noah Douglas, Ava McMeechan and Devon Lopez have been the creators of many of the 1000 paper cranes at the school's art exhibition. Photo/Stuart Whitaker

An artwork featured in the recent Matua School art exhibition was initially inspired by a study of the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Pupils in Emma Bryant's class heard about the story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, a book written by American author Eleanor Coerr.

It tells the true story of Sadako, a Japanese girl who was two at the time of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and who died of leukemia, aged 12.

While in hospital, Sadako would make the cranes, inspired by the ancient Japanese story promising a wish to anyone who made 1000 of them. Because of the story, Sadako has since become synonymous with world peace movements.

Pupils learned to make the paper cranes from Kakuro Horii, a Japanese student who is working at the school.

They decided they wanted to make 1000 of the cranes and enlisted the help of the rest of the school.

Noah Douglas, Ava McMeechan and Devon Lopez spent much of their spare time making the paper cranes, and, having mastered the skill, Noah also taught other pupils in his class and other classes.

"We put it out to the rest of the school, but really it was those three who drove it," says Emma.