The origin of the three-legged monument (tower) can be traced back more than four decades. On the twenty-fifth of October 1955, ten years after the end of the war, a first-year student at Nobori-choo Junior High School named Sadako Sasaki died of an A-bomb disease (leukemia) in the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital. Until the end she was hoping for recovery because of a popular belief which says that "folding a thousand paper cranes will bring good luck."

The sudden outbreak of her A-bomb disease and her death gave her classmates a great shock. They realized all the more keenly the horror of the A-bomb. Because of this her classmates decided to erect a monument to comfort Sadako’s soul and to express their desire for peace.

The idea spread and was supported by people all over Japan; this became a large movement so that finally the monument came into being. It was unveiled on Children’s Day, May 5, 1958.

The designer was Kazuo Kikuchi, professor of Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music, and the sponsor was the "Hiroshima Children and Students Association for the Creation of Peace".