Welcome to 1000CranesBoshart.com

It has been my journey of making 1000 Cranes that has led me to my greatest creative self, combining several modalities of art, constantly innovating my designs to achieve and complete my goal of fabricating 1000 cranes as a prayer wish for Peace with Mother Earth.

I first heard of this prayer wish through my dear friend June Okida Kuramoto, a virtuoso koto musician, composer, and founding member of L.A. based Jazz Fusion groups Hiroshima. June and her daughter Lani were folding 1000 cranes for her grandmother, who had been diagnosed with cancer. June told me the story of a young girl named Sadako, whose story has brought much recognition, and attention to the 1000 cranes wish.

Sadako was a young girl in Japan who like many had developed Leukemia, from the radiation of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. While hospitalized a friend told her of the 1000 cranes wish. Sadako’s sport was running and she wished to run again by folding 1000 cranes. Although she passed on to the spirit world before she completed her prayer wish , it is the Legacy of her memory that is her richest gift to us all. After Sadko had passed on, news of her wish, and passing had traveled, and children from all over the world sent the remaining colored cranes in her honor to complete her wish.
Today in Hiroshima there is a peace park with a statue of Sadako, arms, outstretched like wings,
engraved with the words:

“This is our Cry, This is our Prayer, Peace in our World."

When June told me these stories, I was moved to the very depths of my soul, something seemed
familiar, deep inner voices stirring, which led to the thoughts that if the wish were true for a single
person , why not a collective wish for Our Mother Earth , who seems to be suffering from the same
diseases and cancers that her people are suffering from. Perhaps a Thousand Cranes wish for the Earth,
a song, June could write one, I knew she could.

Inner Voices urged me to write to June, who is sensitive to the native traditions of Earth, and encourage her to compose a 1000 Cranes Song as a wish for the Mother Earth and all her peoples. Several weeks later June phoned and played the newly created melody of A Thousand Cranes on the koto via telephone. Co-written by Derek Nakamoto, and recorded by Hiroshima 1989 epic records.

When June played the newly created melody my eyes welled with emotion and I knew I should
participate in a greater extent. I was beginning to become a metal smith at that time and decided to
fabricate a thousand cranes in jeweled metals. I created crane #1/1000 in early Dec. 1988 and gave it to
June for Christmas that year.

I naively believed at this time that I would be finished in a couple of years, with early designs being
simple facsimiles of paper cranes done in metal applications. I did not realize then that my journey of
making 1000 cranes, would expand my talents and skills as a metal smith, developing and integrating
other modalities of the visual arts, but also that it would be a long journey through the light and shadows of my soul. A journey that would polish not only a roughly cut stone , into a multi-
faceted gem but also my soul reflecting light to share with this great Mother Earth, and her people.

Now halfway through 2005, I am 40 cranes from the completion of my 1000 cranes. It is here within these web pages that I wish to share my cranes and their stories of hope, inspiration and a dedication to a wish that we all share. A wish for a peaceful respectful relationship with this great orb as well as for each other. A planet that has nurtured our race for centuries, full of cultural and religious differences, whose native traditions have been neglected,discarded, and nearly forgotton for modern technology. Even as the patina of our wars and pollution increases each day, planet Earth still survives, supports and enriches each of our lives everyday. It is my understanding that this is as close to unconditional love that any Mother could offer, perhaps a love we should all aspire to, remember and give thanks for.

I have realized now, departing from my naive younger years in this project, that peace for the collective begins with the inner peace of each individual, our personal respondsibility as human beings walking on Our Mother Earth. Within, we are all the same. As the Buddha said :

“Be a Light Unto yourself”

It is through this journey of making 1000 cranes that I have discovered the light within myself and shine it for all the world to see.

1000 blessings to you

Jeffrey Boshart