Odori Park

The snow statues

Hundreds of snow statues fill the park every February

Every February the Sapporo Snow Festival is held throughout Odori Park, with snow statues and several events. The subjects often show an event, a building or a person from the previous year. In 2007 there were 307 statues at the Odori Park site, and a good view of them can be had from the TV Tower.

307statues at the Odori Park site in 2007

Six students

It began in 1950 when six students built six snow statues

The festival began as a one-day event in 1950, when six local high school students built six snow statues in the park. In 1955 the Japan Self-Defense Forces from the nearby Makomanai base joined in and built the first massive sculptures. In years of low snowfall, the Self-Defense Force brings in snow from outside Sapporo.

A firebreak

The park lies where a city plan and a firebreak once ran

In 1869 a judge named Shima Yoshitake planned Sapporo as a city divided by one large street. After his dismissal, Iwamura Michitoshi remodelled the plan in 1871, and a firebreak of 105 metres of largely vacant land was built where the park now lies. The name Ōdōri means large street.

A dumping ground

Part of the strip was left as a dump for garbage and snow

The western blocks held the parade grounds of the Tondenhei, a unit of Hokkaido farmer-soldiers. Later the street was abandoned and used as a garbage and snow dumping ground. In 1909 it was arranged as a walking area under Yasuhei Nagaoka, which may be the origin of the park. During World War II it was given over to potato production.

A day of loss

In 1966 a flight home from the festival crashed into Tokyo Bay

On 4 February 1966, a flight from Sapporo to Tokyo crashed into Tokyo Bay, killing all 126 passengers and 7 crew on board. Many of the passengers were returning to Tokyo after visiting the snow festival.