Japan History and Culture

The history of Sapporo Snow Festival (Sapporo Yuki Matsuri)

The Snow Festival began in 1950, when six local high school students built six snow statues in Odori Park. In 1955, the nearby Makomanai base joined in and built the first massive snow sculptures, for which the Snow Festival has now become famous. Several snow festivals existed in Sapporo prior to the Sapporo Snow Festival, however, all of these were suspended during World War II.
Owing to the Energy crisis of 1974, snow statues were built using drums. This was due to the shortage of gasoline caused by the crisis and many of the trucks used to carry snow to the site were unavailable. In the same year, the International Snow Statue Competition started and since that year many snow statues built by teams from other countries have featured; especially from sister cities of Sapporo such as Munich.

In years when the accumulated snowfall is low, the Self-Defense Force, for whom participation is considered a training exercise, brings in snow from outside Sapporo. The Makomanai base, one of three main sites from 1965,hosted the largest sculptures, with an emphasis on providing play space for children. Use of the Makomanai site was suspended in 2005 and moved to the Sapporo Satoland site located in Higashi-ku from 2006.

Nakajima Park was established as one of the festival sites in 1990 however, it was removed as a site in 1992.The third site, known as the Susukino Snow Festival is situated in the night-life district of Susukino and includes predominantly ice carvings. The site was approved as one of the festival sites in 1983. In every year, the Susukino Queen of Ice, a female beauty contest, is held at the site

The Sapporo Snow Festival (Sapporo Yuki Matsuri)

Dates: February 6 -12
City: Hokkaido, Sapporo Prefecture
The Sapporo Snow Festival, one of Japan’s largest winter events, attracts a growing number of visitors from Japan and abroad every year.
Every winter, about two million people come to Sapporo to see the hundreds of beautiful snow statues and ice sculptures which line Odori Park, the grounds at Satoland, and the main street in Susukino. For seven days in February, these statues and sculptures (both large and small) turn Sapporo into a winter dreamland of crystal-like ice and white snow.

The Sapporo Snow Festival was started in 1950, when high school students built six snow statues in Odori Park. It has since developed into a large, commercialized event, featuring spectacular snow and ice sculptures and attracting more than two million visitors from Japan and across the world

The Snow Festival is staged on three sites across Sapporo City: the Odori Site, Susukino Site and Sato Land Site.

The main site is the Odori Site in Sapporo’s centrally located 1.5 kilometer long Odori Park. The festival’s famous large snow sculptures, some more than 15 meters tall and 25 meters wide, are exhibited there. They are lit up daily until 22:00.
Besides about a dozen large snow sculptures, the Odori Site exhibits more than one hundred smaller snow and ice statues and hosts several concerts and events, many of which use the sculptures as their stage.
Great view over Odori Park can be enjoyed from the Sapporo TV Tower, which stands at the eastern end of the park and is opened from 9:00 to 22:30 during the festival (from 8:30 on the weekend). Admission to the top observatory deck costs 700 Yen per adult.

The Susukino Site, located in and named after Sapporo’s largest entertainment district, exhibits about one hundred ice sculptures. Susukino is located only one subway stop south of Odori Park. The ice sculptures are lit up daily until midnight (until 22:00 on the festival’s final day).

The less centrally located Sato Land Site in Sapporo Sato Land Park is a family oriented site, featuring slides and a maze made out of snow and ice. It also exhibits several more small snow sculptures, and is open daily from 9:00 to 17:00