At a hillside temple, a monk in saffron robes blows a refrain on a conch and begins chanting prayers as thousands of origami cranes donated to Hiroshima burn.
For a decade, the Daisho-in Buddhist temple on Miyajima island, facing Hiroshima, has held ritual burnings of the millions of origami cranes sent to the city each year.
The ceremony is intended to honor the sentiments folded into each of the miniature paper birds.