Sembazuru-origata (1797) – meaning "the folding of a thousand cranes" – contains 49 different separately named origami models of cranes, that can be varied endlessly. The number 1 000 of the title doesn’t refer to the number of cranes, but to the tradition that a crane can become 1 000 years of age.

In Japan the crane is very popular and is often used to show off special tricks: in 1986 i.e. someone used a microscope and a needle, and made a crane out of a little bit of paper the size of only one square millimetre!