Photo by Saya Moriyasu.
The statue of Sadako Sasaki, lovingly known for folding one thousand paper cranes in hopes of gaining back her health, was stolen from the Seattle Peace Park in 2024. The bronze statue of 12-year-old Sadako Sasaki was cut off at her ankles, with only her two feet remaining.
When it was clear the original design of the statue could not be restored, public art management team Elisheba Johnson and Marcia Iwasaki created a list of 200 possible artists for the Sadako Renewal Project.
The artist whose proposal was accepted, Saya Moriyasu, has a direct connection to the project. Moriyasu’s family is from Hiroshima. Her grandmother was supposed to go into the city that day but instead sent her maid. Her dad was just a child when the bomb dropped. When their family took their trucks into the city afterwards, to find their maid and help bring people out of the city, her father snuck onto a truck and witnessed the gruesome aftermath of the atomic bomb.
Sadako lived her final moments in the hospital, fighting leukemia from the nuclear bomb radiation. After Japan surrendered, victims of the bombing weren’t offered any help from the Japanese government.
“When Sadako went into the hospital, her family was paying for it out of pocket,” Moriyasu said.
While there are not enough pages in any American history textbook about the incarceration of over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry during WWII, there is minimal acknowledgement of the atrocities America inflicted on Japanese civilians, much less any consideration for the lasting trauma it incited.
“Sadako’s classmates felt like they were just waiting for another bomb to drop on Japan. It was a certain sort of misunderstanding or true understanding that that was a real threat when it wasn’t,” Moriyasu said.
No one in Japan knew what was going to happen after the bomb, especially the children. Many were living in agonizing fear of another nuclear bomb. Moriyasu thought it imperative to design a statue of Sadako happy and healthy, representing how all children should grow up.
“I wanted to portray her as a child who has everything a child should have—the Sadako that never went through war: free, vibrant and free to just be a kid.” Moriyasu said. “For me, this is about a child deserving a childhood. And with things going on right now, especially in Palestine—it’s a war crime to intentionally bomb children.”
During her time researching for this piece, Moriyasu was inspired by the story of Floyd Schmoe. He was a Quaker who organized a project building houses and, over four years and with many volunteers, constructed 20 houses in Hiroshima and 12 in Nagasaki. He also built homes and dug wells in Korea, as well as helped to develop the oasis well of El Arish in Egypt, amongst many other things during his lifetime.
Later in 1988, Schmoe became the second ever recipient of the Hiroshima Peace Center’s Peace Award. With that money, he commissioned the completion of the Seattle Peace Park.
“The Seattle Peace Park, including the Duwamish Tribe, whose relationship with this place is vital and ongoing. The nearby Cheshiahud Lake Union Trail honors a Duwamish couple who resisted removal and remained at x̌áxəʔču (Lake Union),” Moriyasu said. “My sculpture honors that legacy through proximity, gesture, and holding space.”
The sculpture will also be surrounded by 14 feet of space and three large gingko leaves sprouting from the ground.
“The ginkgo, once native to this region, connects back to time immemorial. Ginkgo trees in Hiroshima survived the atomic bomb and continue as living symbols of resilience and collective memory,” Moriyasu said.
Moriyasu recognized the interesting positionality that this sculpture holds as well; slave owner George Washington is erected in front of UW’s Red Square, right next to Sadako’s spot. Boeing, which played an instrumental role in the atomic bomb mission is also right down the highway.
“She’s a powerful figure standing amongst all that,” Moriyasu said.
She is also the only monument of a female historical figure of the 400 permanent art installations in the City of Seattle’s civic art collection, as reported by Melissa Santos from Axios.
“Another thing I love about Sadako and the Peace Park is that it isn’t about me, or about Floyd [Schmoe], it really is about the community coming together in these times… and now, volunteer activists are working so hard [to raise the money] as community members,” Moriyasu said.
Sadako is a symbol of collective healing and memory. Not only did she leave a legacy of resilience, but she also exemplified how community is healing; while in the hospital, her friends came together to help her fold her 1000 cranes. This renewal project is a culmination of love, liberation, and solidarity in the form of a humble, joyous young girl.
Stay tuned for the new Sadako statue in the Seattle Peace Park in 2027. Please consider donating at https://www.sadakorenewalproject.com/the-campaign.
