Gardens for Peace and the Stolen Statue at Seattle’s Peace Park
by Yukari Yamano
On August 10, during our next Family Saturday event, the Seattle Japanese Garden will participate in a North American Japanese Garden Association’s Gardens for Peace community project. Garden visitors will be able to draw a peace pattern—designed by Hiroshima-based artist Toshiko Tanaka—on special calligraphy scrolls in remembrance of those who died in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings. The Gardens for Peace project symbolizes our commitment to avoiding past mistakes and maintaining world peace, now and in the future.
A statue of Sadako Sasaki at Peace Park in Seattle (Photo: TIA International Photography)
In this same spirit, Peace Park—located in Seattle’s University District, on the corner of Northeast 40th Street and 9th Avenue Northeast, at the northern end of the University Bridge—was built with prize money donated by Dr. Floyd Schmoe, winner of the 1988 Hiroshima Peace Prize. The park was dedicated in 1990, 45 years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
Peace Park has been home to a full-sized bronze statue of Sadako Sasaki, sculpted by Daryl Smith. Sadako was the real-life person who inspired the children’s novel Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, written by Eleanor Coerr and published in 1977. Sadako was a victim of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. She developed leukemia from the radiation caused by the bomb, and this eventually led to her death, at the age of 12. Believing in an old folk story, Sadako folded 1,000 cranes in the hope that by doing so she would be cured. She has since become a symbol of hope and peace.
Children and adults from around the region who visited the statue of Sadako also saw it as a symbol of hope and peace. They would bring origami cranes to the statue to express their hopes for peace in the world. In addition, the statue was the only outdoor monument in Seattle’s municipal art collection that honored a woman. Sadly, on Friday, July 16, the statue was stolen, cut off just above the feet. Seattle Parks and Recreation filed a police report for first-degree theft and malicious mischief.
On August 2nd, members of various groups—including the University Friends Meeting Church, Tsuru for Solidarity, From Hiroshima to Hope, the Seattle chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, the Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee, the Betsuin Buddhist Temple, and the Hiroshima Club—came together with members of the public for a healing gathering. Staff from the Seattle Japanese Garden also attended. Despite the pain of the occasion, the speakers emphasized moving beyond negative emotions, reflecting the true spirit of world peace.
In the past, we have used a picture of the statue of Sadako to illustrate our annual Gardens for Peace event. We are now very saddened that we can only see her in photographs. However, in the spirit of positive emotions, we invite you to visit the Garden on August 10 to advocate for world peace. We will set up a calligraphy station near the pond where you can draw the peace pattern. This will serve both as a tribute to the lost statue and as a commitment to fostering a hopeful world.
Yukari Yamano is the Events Coordinator at the Seattle Japanese Garden.
August Family Saturday Program
11:00AM to 1:00 PM:
Origami Crane Folding in the Tateuchi Community Room
Water Calligraphy at the North Harbor inside the Garden
* Free admission to all youth 12 and younger and seniors from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for Family Saturday.
Visit the Event Page: 8/10 -- Family Saturday: Gardens for Peace Water Calligraphy