Originally a plain sparsely inhabited by the indigenousAinu people, the area contained a few trade posts of theMatsumae domain during theEdo period. The city began as an administrative centre with the establishment of theHokkaido Development Commission headquarters in 1869. Inspired by the ancient cities ofKyoto andHeijō-kyō, it adopted a grid plan and developed aroundOdori Park. After theSecond World War, it replacedOtaru as Hokkaido's commercial and business hub, and its population surpassed one million by 1970.
Before its establishment, the area occupied by Sapporo (Ishikari Plain, aroundIshikari, Hokkaido) was home to indigenousAinu settlements.[7] In 1866, at the end of theEdo period, construction began on a canal through the area, encouraging a number of early settlers to establish Sapporo village.[8] In 1868, the officially recognized year celebrated as the "birth" of Sapporo, the newMeiji government concluded that the existing administrative center of Hokkaido, which at the time was the port ofHakodate, was in an unsuitable location for defense and further development of the island. As a result, it was determined that a new capital on the Ishikari Plain should be established. The plain itself provided an unusually large expanse of flat, well-drained land which is relatively uncommon in the otherwise mountainous geography of Hokkaido.
During 1870–1871,Kuroda Kiyotaka, vice-chairman of theHokkaido Development Commission (Kaitaku-shi), approached the American government for assistance in developing the land. As a result,Horace Capron,Secretary of Agriculture under PresidentUlysses S. Grant, became anoyatoi gaikokujin and was appointed as a special advisor to the commission. Construction began aroundOdori Park, which still remains as a green ribbon of recreational land bisecting the central area of the city. The city closely followed agrid plan with streets at right-angles to form city blocks. The continuing expansion of the Japanese into around Hokkaido continued, and the prosperity of Hokkaido and particularly its capital grew to the point that the Development Commission was deemed unnecessary and was abolished in 1882. In 1871, theHokkaidō Shrine was built in its current location as the Sapporo Shrine.
Edwin Dun came to Sapporo to establish sheep and cattle ranches in 1876. He also demonstrated pig raising and the making of butter, cheese, ham and sausage. He was married twice, to Japanese women. He once went back to the US in 1883 but returned to Japan as a secretary of government.William S. Clark, who was the president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (now theUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst), came to be the founding vice-president of theSapporo Agricultural College (nowHokkaido University) for eight months from 1876 to 1877. He taught academic subjects in science and lectured on the Bible as an "ethics" course, introducing Christian principles to the first entering class of the college.
In 1880, the entire area of Sapporo was renamed as "Sapporo-ku" (Sapporo Ward),[9] and a railroad between Sapporo andTemiya,Otaru was laid. That year theHōheikan, a hotel and reception facility for visiting officials and dignitaries, was built adjacent to the Odori Park. It was later moved toNakajima Park where it remains today. Two years later, with the abolition of the Kaitaku-shi, Hokkaidō was divided into three prefectures: Hakodate, Sapporo, and Nemuro. The name of the urban district in Sapporo remained Sapporo-ku, while the rest of the area in Sapporo-ku was changed to Sapporo-gun. The office building of Sapporo-ku was also located in the urban district.[9]
Sapporo, Hakodate, and Nemuro Prefectures were abolished in 1886, andHokkaidō government office building, an American-neo-baroque-style structure with red bricks, constructed in 1888. The last squad of the Tondenhei, the soldiers pioneering Hokkaido, settled in the place where the area of Tonden inKita-ku, Sapporo is currently located. Sapporo-ku administered surrounding Sapporo-gun until 1899, when the new district system was announced. After that year, Sapporo-ku was away from the control of Sapporo-gun.[9] The "ku" (district) enforced from 1899 was an autonomy which was a little bigger than towns, and smaller than cities. In Hokkaido at that time, Hakodate-ku and Otaru-ku also existed.[10]
In 1907,Tohoku Imperial University was established inSendai Miyagi Prefecture, andSapporo Agricultural College became part of the university as its agriculture faculty. Parts of neighbouring villages including Sapporo Village, Naebo Village, Kami Shiroishi Village, and districts where the Tonden-hei had settled, were integrated into Sapporo-ku in 1910. TheSapporo Streetcar was opened in 1918, andHokkaido Imperial University was established in Sapporo-ku, as the fifthImperial University in Japan, by separating the agriculture faculty of Tohoku Imperial University again. Another railroad operated in Sapporo, the Jōzankei Line, which was ultimately abolished in 1969.
In 1922, the new city system was announced by the national government in Tokyo, and Sapporo-ku was officially renamed Sapporo City.[8] The Sapporo Municipal Bus System was started in 1930. In 1937, Sapporo was chosen as the site of the1940 Winter Olympics, but due to the outbreak of theSecond Sino-Japanese War, this was cancelled the next year. Maruyama Town was integrated as a part of Chūō-ku in 1940, and theOkadama Airport was constructed in 1942. DuringWorld War II, the city wasbombed by American naval aircraft in July 1945.[11]
The firstSapporo Snow Festival was held in 1950. In the same year, adjacent Shiroishi Village was integrated into Sapporo City, rendered as a part of Shiroishi-ku, and Atsubetsu-ku.[12] In 1955, Kotoni Town, the entire Sapporo Village, and Shinoro Village were merged into Sapporo, becoming a part of the current Chūō-ku, Kita-ku, Higashi-ku, Nishi-ku, and Teine-ku.[12] The expansion of Sapporo continued, with the merger of Toyohira Town in 1961, and Teine Town in 1967, each becoming a part of Toyohira-ku, Kiyota-ku, and Teine-ku.[12]
The ceremony commemorating the 100th anniversary of the foundation of Sapporo and Hokkaido was held in 1968. TheSapporo Municipal Subway system was inaugurated in 1971, which made Sapporo the fourth city in Japan to have a subway system. From February 3 to 13, 1972, the1972 Winter Olympics were held, the first Winter Olympics held in Asia.[8] On April 1 of the same year, Sapporo was designated as one of thecities designated by government ordinance, and seven wards were established.[12] The last public performance by the opera singer,Maria Callas, was in Sapporo at the Hokkaido Koseinenkin Kaikan on 11 November 1974.[13] The Sapporo Municipal Subway was expanded when the Tōzai line started operation in 1976, and the Tōhō line was opened in 1988, as well as theNew Chitose Airport in the same year. In 1989, Atsubetsu-ku and Teine-ku were separated from Shiroishi-ku and Nishi-ku. Annual events in Sapporo were started, such as thePacific Music Festival in 1990, and Yosakoi Sōran Festival in 1992. A professional football club,Consadole Sapporo, was established in 1996. In 1997, Kiyota-ku was separated from Toyohira-ku. In the same year,Hokkaidō Takushoku Bank, a Hokkaido-based bank with headquarters in Odori, went bankrupt.[14]
In 2001 the construction of theSapporo Dome was completed, and in 2002 the Dome hosted three matches during the2002 FIFA World Cup: Germany vs Saudi Arabia, Argentina vs England and Italy vs Ecuador, all of which were in the first round. Fumio Ueda, was elected as Sapporo mayor for the first time in 2003. Sapporo became the home to aNippon Professional Baseball team,Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, in 2004, which won the2006 Japan Series, and the victory parade was held on Ekimae-Dōri (a street in front ofSapporo Station) in February 2007.
Sapporo is a city located in the southwest part of Ishikari Plain and thealluvial fan of theToyohira River, a tributary stream of theIshikari River.[16] It is part ofIshikari Subprefecture. Roadways in the urban district are laid to make a grid plan. The western and southern parts of Sapporo are occupied by a number of mountains including Mount Teine, Maruyama, andMount Moiwa, as well as many rivers including the Ishikari River, Toyohira River, and Sōsei River. Sapporo has an elevation of 29 m (95 ft 2 in).[17]
Sapporo has many parks, including Odori Park, which is located in the heart of the city and hosts a number of annual events and festivals throughout the year.Moerenuma Park is also one of the largest parks in Sapporo, and was constructed under the plan ofIsamu Noguchi, a Japanese-American artist and landscape architect.
Sapporo has ahumid continental climate (Köppen:Dfa), with a wide range of temperature between the summer and winter. Summers are generally warm and humid, but not oppressively hot, and winters are cold and very snowy, with an average snowfall of 4.79 m (15 ft 9 in) per year.[18] Sapporo is one of few metropolises in the world with such heavy snowfall,[19] enabling it to hold events and festivals with snow statues. The heavy snowfall is due to theSiberian High developing over the Eurasian land mass and theAleutian Low developing over the northern Pacific Ocean, resulting in a flow of cold air southeastward across Tsushima Current and to western Hokkaido. The city's annual average precipitation is around 1,100 mm (43.3 in), and the mean annual temperature is 8.5 °C (47.3 °F).[20]
The highest temperature ever recorded in Sapporo was 36.3 °C (97.3 °F) on August 23, 2023.[21] The coldest temperature ever recorded was −28.5 °C (−19.3 °F) on February 1, 1929.[21]
Climate data for Sapporo (1991−2020 normals, extremes 1877−present)
The first census of the population of Sapporo was taken in 1873, when 753 families with a total of 1,785 people were recorded in the town.[26] The city has an estimated population of 1,959,750 as of July 31, 2023 and apopulation density of 1,748 inhabitants per square kilometre (4,530/sq mi). The total area is 1,121.26 km2 (432+15⁄16 sq mi).
The tertiary sector dominates Sapporo's industry. Major industries include information technology, retail, and tourism, as Sapporo is a destination for winter sports and events and summer activities due to its comparatively cool climate.[27]
The city is also the manufacturing centre of Hokkaido, manufacturing various goods such as food and related products, fabricated metal products, steel, machinery, beverages, and pulp and paper.[28] TheSapporo Breweries, founded in 1876, is a major company and employer in the city.[29][30]
Sapporo has one streetcar line, threeJR Hokkaido lines, three subway lines andJR Bus,Chuo Bus and other bus lines. Sapporo Subway trains have rubber-tired wheels.
The Sapporo area is served by two airports:Okadama Airport, which offers regional flights within Hokkaido and Tohoku, andNew Chitose Airport, a larger international airport located in the city ofChitose 50 kilometres (30 mi) away, connected by regular rapid trains taking around 40 minutes. The Sapporo-Tokyo route between New Chitose and Haneda is the second busiest in the world only after Gimpo to Jeju route.
An airport shuttle bus servicing hotels in Sapporo operates every day of the year. SkyExpress was founded in 2005 and also provides transport to and from various ski resorts throughout Hokkaido, includingNiseko.
Sapporo Ramen Yokocho and Norubesa (a building with a Ferris wheel) are inSusukino district. The district also has the Tanuki Kōji Shopping Arcade, the oldest shopping mall in the city.
The district of Jōzankei in Minami-ku has many resort hotels with steam baths andonsen.
ThePeace Pagoda, one of many such monuments across the world built by the Buddhist order Nipponzan Myohoji to promote and inspire world peace, has astupa that was built in 1959,[citation needed] halfway up Mount Moiwa, to commemorate peace afterWorld War II. It contains some of the ashes of the Buddha that were presented to the Emperor of Japan by Prime Minister Nehru in 1954.[citation needed] Another portion was presented toMikhail Gorbachev by the Nipponzan-Myohoji monk, Junsei Terasawa.[citation needed]
Nishioka Park is a location of rich nature that centers around a pond and consists of marshland and the forest of the Tsukisamu River and its upper river basin. This park also serves as one of the main habitats inHokkaido for many types of wild birds.
May: the Sapporo Lilac Festival.Lilac was brought to Sapporo in 1889 by an American educator, Sarah Clara Smith. At the festival, people enjoy the flowers, wine and live music.
June: the Yosakoi Soran Festival. The sites of the festival are centered on Odori Park and the street leading to Susukino, and there are other festival sites. In the festival, many dance teams dance to music composed based on a Japanese traditional song, "Sōran Bushi". Members of the dancing teams wear special costumes and compete on the roads or stages constructed on the festival sites. In 2006, 350 teams were featured with around 45,000 dancers, and over 1,860,000 people visited the festival.[35]
The Sapporo Summer Festival. People enjoy drinking at the beer garden in Odori Park and on the streets ofSusukino. This festival consists of a number of fairs such as Tanuki Festival and Susukino Festival.[35]
September: the Sapporo Autumn Festival
December:Christmas market in Odori Park, similar to German Christmas markets.
From November through January, many citizens enjoy the Sapporo WhiteIlluminations.
The city is home toSapporo Brewery, white chocolate biscuits known as 'shiroi koibito' (白い恋人), and also as the birthplace ofmiso ramen.[36] Kouraku Ramen Meitengai, in the Susukino district, is an alley lined with many miso ramen restaurants, since 1951. After its demolition, due to plans for theSapporo Olympics, the Ganso Sapporo Ramen Yokocho was established in its place. It attracts many tourists throughout the year.[36] From 1966, a food company named, Sanyo Foods, began to sell instant ramen under the brand name, "Sapporo Ichiban".
Haskap, a local variety of ediblehoneysuckle, similar toblueberries, is a specialty in Sapporo. Other specialty dishes of Sapporo include; soup curry, a soupycurry made with vegetables and chicken, sometimes other meats too, andjingisukan, abarbecued lamb dish, named afterGenghis Khan. Sapporo Sweets, is a confectionery using many ingredients from Hokkaido where there's also the Sapporo Sweets Competition held annually.[37] Sapporo is also well known for fresh seafood includingsalmon,sea urchin andcrab. Crab in particular is famed. Many types of crab are harvested and served seasonally in Sapporo like the horsehair crab, snow crab, king crab, and Hanasaki crab, with numerous dishes revolving around them.[38]
Sapporo was selected as host to the 5th Winter Olympics, scheduled for February 3 to 12, 1940; however Japan had to cancel the event, consequently handing the decision back to theIOC, after the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937.
In 1972, Sapporo hosted the 11thWinter Olympics. Some structures built for Olympic events remain in use today, including the ski jumps atMiyanomori andOkurayama. After considering a bid for the2026 Winter Olympics and the2030 Winter Olympics, Olympic representatives in Sapporo have said that the city is considering a bid for the 2034 Winter Olympics. The city predicted it may cost as much as 456.5 billion yen ($4.3 billion) to host the games and is planning to have 90 percent of the facilities within half an hour of the Olympic village, according to a report published 12 May 2016. The Alpen course would be inNiseko, the world's second-snowiest resort, while the village would be next to theSapporo Dome, the report said.[39] The plans were presented to theJapanese Olympic Committee on 8 November 2016.[40][41] In 2002, Sapporo hosted three group matches of theFIFA World Cup at the Sapporo Dome. In 2006, Sapporo hosted some games of the2006 Basketball World Championship and also for the2006 Women's Volleyball World Championship. In 2007, Sapporo hosted theFIS Nordic World Ski Championships at the Sapporo Dome, Miyanomori ski jump, Okurayama ski jump, and the Shirahatayama cross-country course. It has been the host city to twoAsian Winter Games and hosted the2017 Asian Winter Games inObihiro. Sapporo also hosted matches during the2019 Rugby World Cup.
Skiing remains a major sport in Sapporo with almost all children skiing as a part of the school curriculum. Okurayama Elementary School is unusual in having its own ski hill and ski jumping hill on the school grounds. Within the city are commercial ski hills including Moiwayama, Bankeiyama, KobaWorld,Sapporo Teine and Fu's.
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There are 198 municipal elementary schools, and 98 municipal junior high schools in Sapporo.Sapporo Odori High School provides Japanese-language classes to foreign and Japanese returnee students, and the school has special admissions quotas for these groups.[43]
^Japan, Brewery Convention of."Brewers Association of Japan".Brewers Association of Japan (in Japanese).Archived from the original on June 6, 2021. RetrievedJune 14, 2021.
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