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 Snow Festival began in 1950, when local high school students built six snow statues in Odori Park. in 1955, the Self-Defense Force joined in and built the very first massive snow sculpture, for which the Snow Festival has become famous for now. The Festival has grown from these humble beginnings to become one of the biggest and most well known of Hokkaido's winter events.
The Snow Festival is considered to be a festival of international-caliber.
Odori Site
Odori Park stretches from east to west through the center of downtown Sapporo and represents the main festival site.here,you can see a variety of snow and ice sculptures, many of which have an international flavor. There are other snow stages located here and featuring a varientyof entertainment.
International corporations sponsor gigantic sculptures while individual teams compete in designing smaller intricate designs.
Many sculptures feature prominent state buildings around the world.
This gigantic lifesize sculpture is over 15 fifteen feet tall and features unbelievable detail.
The Pantheon of Athens.
11 comments on The Festival of The Snow
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What intricate design and detail! My goodness so much work but so much beauty.
I know, but they are just gorgeous, aren't they?
Spectacular! I love the winged horse.
That one is a real example of how intricate some of these are.
love it.
Thanks, Dale. So do I.
Tremendous! Oh, how fabulous! I'm going to go back and take another look at those pictures before I push the "add comment" button.
They just take one's breath away, don't they. I think I'll add this to my Favorite Links so people can come back to it again if they like.
In the mountainous area, where Sapporo is, they get heavy snows. In fact, the Winter Olympics were held at Sapporo back in the 80's. Yes, they really are absolutely true works of art.
Saw these photos, too — aren't they just amazing? Spectacular!