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1word1day2015-02-12 08:00 am
prettygoodword.livejournal.com) wrote in 1word1day2015-02-12 08:00 am
Thursday word: senbazuru
senbazuru (sen-bah-zoo-roo) - n., one thousand origami cranes.
In Japan (as in most of East Asia) a crane represents longevity, because it was believed to live for a thousand years. Folding a thousand of them, one for each year, is supposed to grant one a wish for good health, or when given as a wedding present, a long and prosperous marriage. Or, thanks to the story of Sadako and the Thousand Folk Processes, a prayer for world peace. From Japanese 千葉鶴, being sen, thousand + ha, the counter for pieces of paper + tsuru, crane, with sound-changes from the concatenation, because that's the way Japanese rolls.
Instructions for folding a senbazuru available at http://www.monkey.org/~aidan/origami/crane/, and many other places around the internet.
---L.
In Japan (as in most of East Asia) a crane represents longevity, because it was believed to live for a thousand years. Folding a thousand of them, one for each year, is supposed to grant one a wish for good health, or when given as a wedding present, a long and prosperous marriage. Or, thanks to the story of Sadako and the Thousand Folk Processes, a prayer for world peace. From Japanese 千葉鶴, being sen, thousand + ha, the counter for pieces of paper + tsuru, crane, with sound-changes from the concatenation, because that's the way Japanese rolls.
Instructions for folding a senbazuru available at http://www.monkey.org/~aidan/origami/crane/, and many other places around the internet.
---L.