A peace pole is a monument that displays the message "May Peace Prevail on Earth" in the language of the country where it has been placed, and usually 3 to 13 additional translations. The message often is referred to as a peace prayer.

The idea of peace poles was first thought up by Masahisa Goi in 1955 in Japan. The peace pole project today is promoted by The World Peace Prayer Society as well as other groups and individuals. The first peace poles outside Japan were constructed in 1983.^[1] Since then, more than 200,000 have been placed around the world in close to 200 countries.^[1]

Peace poles are made of many materials; most are made of wood, while others are made of limestone, copper, plastic or stainless steel. The text might be painted, carved, etched, welded, pasted, or riveted on, or it might simply be a plastic plaque attached with screws. In other cases, it is the careful work of an artist or sculptor.

Sometimes the word prayer is avoided so that peace poles are not regarded as religious objects therefore violating zoning restrictions. For example, a Quaker group in New York City ran into this problem year after year, and did not get permission to plant a peace pole in a park.^{[citation needed]} Some manufacturers refer to the wording as a Peace Message for this reason.^[2]

Peace poles have been placed in such notable locations as the north magnetic pole, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, the site of the Egyptian pyramids in Giza, and the Aiki Shrine in Iwama, Japan.^[3] Peace poles are commonly installed at high-profile public gathering places, such as community parks or near the entrances of churches or schools. In one case, a garden, created for a wedding, was designed around the peace pole that was its centerpiece. The Republic of Molossia, a micronation, has a peace pole in eight languages.^[4] The University of California, Los Angeles has a limestone peace pole with 14 languages directly in front of Kerckhoff Hall.

The initial inspiration for planting a peace pole often is as a response to a local historic hate crime, incident or issue. The world's second-largest peace pole, at 52 feet (16 m),^[5] is located in Janesville, Wisconsin, at the site of a 1992 KKK rally (Saturday, May 30).^[6][7][8] Another of the largest peace poles in the world, as measured in tons, is the granite peace pole^[9] in Beech Acres Park^[10] near Cincinnati, Ohio, inspired by hate literature left in the driveways of Jewish residents.

In September 2016, the World Peace Prayer Society and the Little Free Library project announced a collaboration to offer a new peace pole library structure. It features the standard peace pole message of peace – "May Peace Prevail on Earth" – in a six-foot library. Some of these new libraries were installed at locations significant to the civil rights movement, such as the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.^[11][12]

A former grain elevator in Minneapolis is painted as a gigantic peace pole

The multilingual inscription of a peace pole constitutes a parallel text with top-to-bottom sentences. Each one is usually shown:

• rotated clockwise in languages using LTR scripts (English, Latin, ...)
• rotated counterclockwise in languages using RTL scripts (Arabic, Hebrew, ...)
• arranged vertically in languages using East Asian scripts (Japanese, Chinese, ...)

They can be set in different case styles (sentence case, title case all caps, small caps), even on a single pole.

More information Language, Inscription (description) ...

Language	Inscription (description)
Afrikaans	Mag Vrede Seëvier Op Aarde
Albanian	Paqe mbretëroftë në botë[13][14]
Algonquin	Quenohteau Ohke woh aquené omskauau[13]
Amharic	ሰላም በሞላ ዓለም ይስፈን።[14]
Anishinaabe	Gidaa Awiibaa Mashkawisi Dakiiminan
Arabic	السلام للعالم أجمع[13][14]
Armenian	խաղաղություն ամբողջ աշխարի մարդկությանը։[14]
Aymara	Aka uraqinxa suma jakaña utjpa[14]
	Chukiago marca sumalaca ken sisiñani
Azerbaijani (Latin)	Yašasın sülh bütün dünyada[15][13][16]
Bafut	Àyǝʼǝtɨ anɨ mǝ tá mbɔɔnǝ kwɛrɨ nsɨe ntsɨm
Bambara	Nyesuma ka ladamu dukukolo kokan[14]
Belarusian	Няхай будзе мір чалавецтву ва ўсім свеце[14]
Bengali	বিশ্বে শান্তি বিরাজ করুক ।[14]
Bislama	Bambae pis i stap long wol[13][14]
Bulgarian	Нека пребъде мира по света.[14]
Burmese	ကမ္ဘာ့လူသားများငြိမ်းချမ်း၇း၇၇ှိပါစေ ။[14]
Cambodian	សូមឲ្យពិភពលោកបានសន្តិភាព ។[14]
Cape Verdean / Kabuverdianu	Pa pas ka kaba na mundu[14]
Catalan / Valencian	Que la Pau Prevalgui a la Terra
	Que la pau prevalgui a la terra[14]
Cherokee	ᎡᎶᎯᏃ ᏙᎯᏱ ᎨᏎᏍᏗ[13][17]
Chichewa / Nyanja	Mtendere ukhale pa dziko la pansi[13]
	Mtendere ukhale padziko la pansi[14]
Chinese	?[13]
	我們祈禱世界人類的和平[18][19]
	但願世界永遠和平[20]
Chinese (Traditional)	我們祈願世界人類的和平[21]
Chinese, Mandarin	我们祝愿世界人类的和平[15][22][14][16][21][13][17]
Chinese, Mandarin (Latin)?	keyi xia gan wu shi le zai diqiu shang
Comorian	Amani oharimwa ye duniya kamili[14]
Creole (Haitian)	Pou lapè simaye dan lemond antye[14]
Creole (Seychellois)	Ki lape i rennyen dan lemonn[14]
Croatian	Neka mir zavlada na zemlji
Czech	Ať mír vždy vládne na Zemi[14]
Dakota	Makasitomniya wodakota ni[13]
	Makȟasitoniya wodakȟota ni[13]
Danish	Må fred herske på jorden[13][14]
Dari / Afghan Persian	برقرار باد صلح در جهان[14]
Divehi / Dhivehi / Maldivian	ދުނިޔޭގައި އަމާންކަން ދަމަހައްޓަވާދޭވެ.[14]
Douala / Duala	Ese̱le̱ musango mu be̱ O wase[13]
Dutch / Flemish	Moge vrede heersen op aarde[13][14]
Dzongkha	འཛམ་གླིང་འདི་ནང་ལུ་ བདེ་སྐྱིད་ཕུན་གསུམ་ཚོགས་ཅུ་ཚིག།[14]
English	May Peace Prevail On Earth[13][17] (title case)
	May peace prevail on earth[15][14] (sentence case)
	MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON EARTH[23] (all caps)
	May peace prevail on earth (small caps)
Esperanto	PACO REGU SUR LA TERO[13][17]
	Paco regu sur la tero
Estonian	Olgu maailmas rahu[14]
Filipino / Pilipino	Sana'y Manatili ang Kapayapáan sa Mundo[13]
	Kapayapaan sa mundo[13] (shorter)
Finnish	Vallitkoon Rauha Maailmassa
French	Puisse la Paix régner dans le Monde
	Puisse la paix régner dans le monde[13][14]
	Paix sur la terre![24] (abbr.)
Galician	Que a paz prevaleza na Terra[14]
Georgian	დაე იყოს მშვიდობა მთელ მსოფლიოში[14]
German	Möge Friede auf Erden sein[13][17][14]
	Friede auf Erden![25] (abbr.)
Greek	Εύχομαι να Επικρατήσει η Ειρήνη στον Κόσμο
	Εύχομαι να επικρατήσει η ειρήνη στον κόσμο[13][14]
Guarani	Toiko Py'aguapy Tenondete Ko Arapy Rehe
	Toiko py'aguapy tenondete ko arapy rehe[14]
Hausa	Zaman lafiya ta tabbata a duniya[14]
Hawaiian	E Ho'omaluhia Me Ka Honua[13]
Hebrew	ישרה שלום עלי אדמות[15][13][14]
Hmong	Kom kev thaj yeeb mauj rau ntiaj teb no[13]
Hopi	Tuwa kwatsi es looma eyesni[13]
Hungarian	Legyen béke a földön[13][14]
Icelandic	Megi friður ríkja á jörð[13][14]
Igbo	Ka udo diri n'uwa[14]
Ikiribati	Ke e teimatoa te rau i aonnaba[14]
Indonesian	Semoga damai di dunia[13][14]
Irish (Gaelic)	Go raibh síocháin ar domhain[13][14]
Italian	Che la pace regni sulla terra[13][17][14]
Japanese	世界人類が平和でありますように[13][14] (as Masahisa Goi's handwritting)
Kazakh	Адамзатқа бүткіл дүниеде бейбітшілік болсын[14]
Kikongo	Nbota luvuvamo luakala mu nsy ya wonssono[13]
Kikuyu	Thayú v́iyv́re thiine wa thi yothe[13]
	THAYU UIYURE THIINE WA THI YOTHE[13]
Kituba	Ngemba kuvanda na n'toto[14]
Klingon	tera'Daq taHjaj roj[26]
Korean	세계인류의 평화가 이룩되도록[15][13][14][16][21]
Kurdish (Iraq)	ئاشتی بوهه موو جیهان[14]
Kyrgyz	Дүйнөдө тынчтык болсун[14]
Lakota	Makasitomniya wolakota ni[13]
	Makȟasitoniya wolakȟota ni[13]
	Unci Maka akan wolakota unkagapi kte[13]
Lao	ຂໍໃຫ້ສັນຕິພາບຈົ່ງມີຢູ່ໃນໂລກ[14]
Latin	Regnet Pax Omnem Per Terram[13]
	Pax in orbem praevaleat[13]
	Et in terra pax hominibus[21]
Latvian	Lai būtu miers pasaulē[14]
Lingala	Kimia ezala na mokili[14]
Lithuanian	Tebūna pasaulyje taika[13]
Luxebourgish	Fridden op de Äerd[13]
	Fridden mat allen Mënschen op der Welt[13]
Macedonian	Нека мирот завладее на земјата[14]
Malay	Semoga damai di dunia[13][14]
Malagasy	Enga anie hanjaka eran'izao tontolo izao ny fandriampahalemana[14]
Malayalam	ഭൂമിയിൽ സമാധാനം നിലനിൽക്കട്ടെ
Maltese	Jalla l-paċi ssaltan fid-dinja[14]
	JALLA L-PACI SSALTAN FID-DINJA[27]
Maori	He maungārongo ki runga i te whenua[13][14]
	Kia tau te rangimarie kei te whenua
Marshallese	Ainemon en bed ion lol in[14]
Miami	PEH-KO-KI-A A-KIN-KE-KWA-CI[13]
Mohawk	SKÉN:NEN KENHAK NÉ OHWENTSÁ:KE[13]
Romanian, Moldovan	Fie pace pe Pământ[14]
Mongolian	?[14]
Mongolian (Cyrillic)	Даян дэлхий энх амгалан байг[14]
Mungaka	Mboni Ma Cie[13]
Nauruan	Enim mek iow eat eb[14]
Navajo	Nahasdzáán Bikáági Táá axtsogóó Hózhǫ́ǫ́ dooleex[13]
Nepali	विश्वमा शान्ति फैलिरहोस ।[14]
Norwegian	Måtte det være fred på jorden[13]
Noongar	Coer nagal nyjininyj Ngulla Boodja
Ojibwe, Odawa	MAH NOH TAH BISON TAM GOT-EMAH AHKEENG KOGNIK[13]
	Mah Noh Tah Bison Tam Got-e-mah Ahkeeng Kognik
Palauan	A budech bol mesisiich era belulachad[14]
Pashto	تل دی وی سوله په نړۍ کښی[14]
Persian	برقرار باد صلح در سراسر جهان[14]
Pidgin	Pis mas istap long wol[14]
Polish	Niech będzie pokój na Ziemi[14]
	Niech ludzkość świata żyje w pokoju[13]
	Pokoj na ziemi![28] (abbr.)
Portuguese	Que a Paz Prevaleça na Terra
	Que a Paz Prevaleça no Mundo
	Que a paz prevaleça no mundo[13][14]
Potawatomi	Nojma jag gégo gdokmeshen edjedéyag[13]
Quechua	Kusi Kausay Kachun Kay Pachapi
Quechua (Bolivia)	Kay pachapi allin kawsay kachun[14]
Quechua (Peru)	Tiqsimuyupi allin kawsay kachun[14]
Romansch	Possia la pasch reger en il mund[14]
Russian	Да будет мир человечеству во всём мире[13][17][14]
	Да будет мир на земле![13] (shorter)
Kinyarwanda	Amahoro n'aganze kw'isi hose[13][14]
Kirundi	Amahoro yosasagara mw'isi yose[14]
Samoan	la malo pea le filemu i le lalolagi[13][14]
Sangho	Siriri a douti na ndo ti sesse[14]
Sanskrit	पृथिव्यां शांति अस्तु
Scottish Gaelic	Gum buadhaich sìth anns gach ceàrn dhe 'n t-saoghal[13]
Seminole	Hee-łom cho-bee po-baa-nom[13]
Seneca	Ja-wë-on Tha-yö-jeoK Yoë-dza-geh[13]
Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian/Macedonian (Cyrillic)	Нека мир завлада на земљи[14]
Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian/Macedonian (Latin)	Neka mir zavlada na zemlji[14]
Sesotho	Khotso e be teng lefatšeng[14]
Setswana	A kagiso e nne teng mo lefatsheng[14]
Shona	Runyararo ngaruveko pasi rose[14][16]
Northern Ndebele	Ukuthula kube semhlabeni[14][16]
Sinhalese	රී ලංකාවේ සාමය පවතීවා[14]
Sioux	Wo' wa'hwa la ma'ka a'kan u'num'we[13]
siSwati	Kuthula akube semhlabeni[14]
Slovak	Nech pokoj vždy vládne na Zemi[14]
Slovene	Naj mir zavlada svetu[14]
Somali	Dunidu nabad ha ku waarto[13][14]
Spanish	Que la Paz Prevalezca En La Tierra[17]
	Que la paz prevalezca en la tierra[15][13][14]
Swahili	Amani na iwepo duniani[13][14]
Swedish	Må fred råda på jorden[13][14]
Tagalog	Sana'y manatili ang kapayapáan sa daigdig[13]
	Sana'y manatili ang kapayapaan sa daigdig[14]
	Kapayapaan ay maghari sa daigdig[13] (shorter)
	Kapayapaan sa mundo[13] (shorter, with Spanish loanwords)
Tajik	Барқарор бод сулҳ дар ҷаҳон[14]
Tamil	உலகில் அமைதி நிலவட்டும் [14]
Tetum	Dame ba mundu tomak[14]
Thai	ขอให้สันติภาพจงมาสู่โลก[14]
Tigrinya	ሰላም አብ ምልእቲ ዓለም ትስፈን።[14]
Tongan	Fakatauange ke toka 'a e melino 'i mamani kotoa[14]
Tshiluba	Bupole buikale pa buloba[14]
Turkish	Dünyada barış daim olsun[13][14]
	Yurtta Bariş Dünyada Bariş[13] (motto of Turkey; 'peace at home, peace in the world')
Turkmen	Дүнйәде парахатчылык болсун[14]
Tuscororan	Rih Wharaku Ahske-ne Ticunuwehne[13]
Tuvaluan	Ke tumau te filemu ite lalolagi[13][14]
Twi	Asomdwoe nka wiasefo[14]
Ukrainian	Хай буде мир людству у всьому світі[14]
Urdu	دنیا میں امن قائم رہے[14]
Uzbek	Dunyoda tinchlik bo'lsin[14]
Vietnamese	Nguyện xin hòa bình đến với toàn thể nhân loại trên thế giới[13]
	Cầu chúc hòa bình cho toàn nhân loại trên thế giới[14]
	Cầu hoà bình cho toàn nhân loai tren thế giới
Welsh	Mai Dangnefedd Prevail acha Briddo
	Tangnefedd ar y ddaear[13]
Wolof	Na jàmm yàgg ci aduna[14]
Yoruba	Alàáfíà fún gbogbo àgbáyé[14]
Yugambeh	Duraiangah baugull gulli jagundah[29]
(Language labels)	[English, French, ...][30]
Music (score)	from "Let There Be Peace on Earth" song[31]
	from "Imagine" song[31]
(Animal tracks / Paw prints)	[][32][33] (alligator, badger, bear, beaver, bison, bobcat, caribou, deer, dog, elephant, grasshopper, heron, kangaroo, mountain goat, opossum, otter, penguin, skunk, turkey, turtle, wild boar)[13]
(Human feet prints)	[][34][35]
(Leaf prints)	[][34]
(Dove with olive branch)	[][32]
(Earth)	[][30][32]
(Voice recordings / Audio)	(audio in many languages)[36]
(Audiovisual)	(video in many languages)[37]

Close

• Peace pole in Spokane's Finch Arboretum, Washington
• The tallest (16.5 m (54 ft)) peace pole in the world on the campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. It is made of a 105 years old Sapele tree. 5 languages (Twi—a local language in Ghana, Hindi, Chinese, Swahili, and Arabic) have been used to express the peace prayer on the pole: "May Peace Be on Earth".
• Peace Pole in 12 languages at Alverno College, Milwaukee
• Peace pole at a church in Valparaiso, Indiana. Displays the Japanese text rotated, not arranged vertically.
• Monument in memory of the 1998 embassy bomb blast victims from Nairobi (Kenya) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania). Shows an unusual vertical arrangement of the engraved text.
• Peace pole planted in Argotti Botanic Gardens (Floriana, Malta)
• Peace marker with abbreviated texts in Dortmund, Germany
• Peace marker with abbreviated texts in Neuenrade, Germany
• Peace Pole and Cherry Tree planted by Hiroshima Survivors at Faslane Peace Camp, Scotland (on 6 August 1985)

• Ceremonial pole

Translation sources: https://web.archive.org/web/20170511155434/http://www.peace-pole.com/translations_for_peace_poles.htm or http://www-peace.sakura.ne.jp/pages/_Earth.htm

• Map with all the peace poles