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Sapporo Historical Village of Hokkaido (Nopporo Forest Park)

Historical Village of Hokkaido is a tourist attraction located at the Nopporo Forest Park on the outskirts of the city. It is a large (54 hectare/119 acre) outdoor museum with about 60 old wooden and stone buildings from the Meiji (1868-1910) and Taisho (1910-1926) periods. The buildings were collected from all over Hokkaido, mostly rescued from demolitions, road widening and other "progress". Sadly, only about 60 buildings out of a much larger architectural heritage could be saved, though in Sapporo city itself buildings such as the Hoheikan, "red bricks", and clock tower remain in their original locations.

The buildings were painstakingly dismantled and relocated into 4 different zones within the village. These zones are "Town", "Fishing Village", "Farm Village" and "Mountain Village". Inside each building there are displays showing how Hokkaido residents of the period lived. Its a bit of a tourist trap - horse drawn trolleys and sleigh rides are popular with the Japanese tourists, but for those interested in history and Japanese culture, comparing the rest of Japan with the heavy western influence involved in the colonization of Hokkaido is worthwhile.

Buildings (located by zone)

Town:

• Old Sapporo Railway Station: This building was originally the front gate of Sapporo station. Built in 1908 at the end of the Meiji period, it remained in place until 1952. It is now the management office building for the Historical Village.

• Kondo's Dyeing Shop: This two storey building was the oldest dyeing shop (est. 1898) in Asahikawa, a town in north-central Hokkaido with extremely cold winter temperatures.

• Kurumasa Inn: Also from Asahikawa, this two storey wooden inn was built in 1913 and continued to be used until 1984.

• Sanmasu Buckwheat Noodle Shop: Tokumatsu Kawamoto was the owner of this shop which became a popular place for banquets and meetings. He was originally from Ishikawa Prefecture and was one of the many merchants who headed to Hokkaido to make a new life. This two storey shop was relocated from the port city of Otaru.

• Takei Sake Brewery: Relocated from Tomari village, this wooden building from 1886 was used not only as a sake brewery but as a retail outlet for general merchandise - a typical arrangement in a frontier society such as Hokkaido in the Meiji period. The sake brands brewed here included "Matsu no Tsuyu" and "Tama no Kawa".

• Dr. Kondo's Clinic: This two storey wooden construction featured an American design (not uncommon in Hokkaido where there were many foreign advisers known as oyatoi gaikokujin). The clinic belonged to a medical doctor named Seikichi Kondo and was relocated from a fishing town. Behind the clinic, Dr Kondo kept an extensive library of books in a traditional fire resistant Kura (warehouse).

• Takeoka's Grocery: Built in Shizunai in 1898, this wooden grocery shop sold rice, general goods and kitchen utensils. It is a traditional Japanese design, but if you look carefully at the entrance you will spot the semi circular eaves that were being introduced by western influence at the time.

• Hirose Photo Studio: Operating until 1958, the second floor has a roof made partially of glass so that there was more natural lighting during photography sessions. This wooden building was constructed in 1924 in Iwamizawa.

• Oishi Sweet Shop: A wooden construction dating from 1907, this shop was relocated from Obihiro were it was owned by Mr Taizo Ooishi - a confectioner. His family continued to maintain the house and shop for 2 generations.

• Ota Farrier: Until the late 1950's, horses remained the principal means of transport for farming communities in Hokkaido. The farrier was as essential as gasoline/petrol stations are now. This one was located on Route 12 and was built early in the Taisho era.

• Fujiwara cart and sleigh factory: This factory (and residence) belonged to Mr Nobukichi Fujiwara, a carpenter by profession whose family managed this business for 3 generations from 1903 until 1963. Horse drawn vehicles were the only viable means of transportation.

• Well: During the Meiji and Taisho eras, most towns in Hokkaido were reliant on the abundant groundwater. This is a typical draw well. These days, the groundwater is often polluted or inadequate for residential and industrial needs.

• Honjo Blacksmith: This single storey wooden structure was built in 1897 in the small fishing town of Ishikara. In addition to fishing gear and boat fittings, the blacksmith also produced a range of farming implements for market gardens and so on.

• Sapporo Takushoku Soko Company warehouse: This timber-frame building has stone walls (locally quarried) and was originally located directly behind Sapporo station. It was one of the main distribution centers for agricultural produce.

• Kaitakushi Sapporo HQ: This building is currently used as the museum's information center, auditorium, lounge and seminar room. It is one of the few buildings that weren't originals. In this case, the original structure (which was made of wood) burnt down, and this replica is actually concrete.

• Urakawa Government Building: A two storied wooden structure dating from 1919, this local administration building was relocated from Urakawa. It contains historical displays.

• Otaru Shimbun Building: Otaru's newspaper, the "Otaru Shimbun" was printed from this three storied building from 1909.

• Kaitakushi Industrial Office: This is the oldest structure on the site. Of American design, it was a training center where foreign advisors taught new skills and introduced western technologies. First constructed in 1877.

• Police Box at Minami 1-jo: Nicknamed "Red Brick Police Box" by local residents after its famous cousin, this small brick structure was built in 1911 and remained in service for 70 years.

• Shimauta Post Office: Built in 1902 in Setana, this post office was mainly used by intinerant workers from the main island of Honshu who would come to Hokkaido to work in the Herring fishery. In an era where national banks were rare, the post office was vital for remitting wages back to their families.

• Yamamoto's Barber shop: This barber shop was established sometime in the later part of the Taisho era near Maruyama Park in western Sapporo. Like most barber shops in Japan, the building also served as a residence for the owner. Its western style architecture was typical of that period.

• Watanabe's Grocery: The town of Nakatonbetsu had a thriving placer mining industry at the time this grocery was constructed in 1918. It is wooden, but plastered to provide protection against fire and Hokkaido's cold climate.

• Urakawa Church: Built in 1894 by conservative Christians from abroad, this church was used as a meeting hall and for education. It also served as a spiritual support center for immigrants.

• Temiya Stationmaster's residence: Built in Otaru in 1884, the buiding has a western style truss.

• Shirokansha: Officials of the Kaitakushi (Hokkaido colonization HQ) lived in this white walled wooden residence built in 1878 in Sapporo. The name refers to the white walls of the apartment building, which became famous after the author Takeo Arishima mentioned the building in one of his works.

• Fukushi Naritoyo's residence This Meiji era building was the home of the surveyor who established the first base line measurements in Hokkaido. The front part of the residence is western style.

• Matsuhashi residence: This residence belonged to the owners of a real estate company. It was built in 1897 (Sapporo) with a tin roof and western style rooms.

• Arishima Takeo's residence: Author of "Umareizuru Nayami" (The Agony of Coming into Existence), Japanese author Arishima Takeo lived in this house which also appears in the story. Built in 1904 as a farmhouse in Sapporo, Arishima leased his farmland to tenants.

• Hokkai junior high school: A single storey wooden school house, this western stlye building housed the first private junior high in Hokkaido.

• Ryuunji Temple: Constructed in Sapporo in 1893, this temple was built with the contributions of the farmers of Sapporo.

Fishing Village:

• Aoyama Family's Herring fishery: This family operated a large business concentrating on the herring fisheries off the coast of Otaru. The main house was built in 1919, and the right side was the family residence. The left hand side of the building provided accommodation for the many itinerant workers who came to Hokkaido during the herring season. Other facilities included rice storehouses and fishing net storages.

• Herring Storage: A single storey wooden shelter from the Shakotan peninsula, this was a temporary storage for the herring catch, though in the off season it also served as a store for boats, oars, equipement etc).

• Tsuchiya's Storehouse: This is another single storey storehouse, this time from Kumaishi on the Sea of Japan coast where it was built in 1887. As the shoreline in that area rises steeply, half of the storehouse projects out into the sea so that boats can come ashore under the loading dock.

• Akiyama Family House: The small building belonged to the Akiyama family, who lived on Yagishiri island in the Sea of Japan and engaged in herring gill fishing and other inshore fisheries.

Farm Village:

• Wakasa's Storehouse: Buily in 1850 in Kaminokuni, this "Seiro" style storehouse is the oldest of its kind - a type unique to Hokkaido.

• Yamamoto Fire Tool: Constructed in Sapporo in 1925 to store fire fighting equipment, the one storey wooden hut continued to serve as fire prevention operations until 1970. In crowded urban areas, fire was a considerable threat as houses were mostly wooden and heating provided through burning coal or charcoal.

• Sokeshuomabetsu Relay Station: Prior to railway construction, residents in rural Hokkaido were dependant on horses for delivery of mail, freight, and for passenger services. A system similar to the "Pony Express" was established, with relay stations similar to this one built in 1907 at Kimobetsu. At these stations, horses were rested and fed, and mail and freight distribution was coordinated.

• Hokuseikan Silkworm House: Silk was Japan's most important export in the Meiji period, earning vital foreign exchange required to pay for the purchases of large amounts of foreign technology and raw materials. (Silk was still Japan's largest export as late as 1940) This farmhouse was built in 1905 at Urausu and contained a sericulture roo, and mulberry leaf storage area - it produced silkworm eggs and shipped them to sericulture farms.

• Farm machinery shed: Built in 1921, this shed was part of the Takikawa Livestock Experiment Station which was instrumental in helping Hokkaido become the first region in Japan to use large agricultural machinery.

• Shinano Shinto Shrine: A wave style wooden Shinto shrine built in the Sapporo area by settlers in 1897, this small shrine was a center for the Autumn harvest festivals.

• Soldier/Settler's House: During the colonization of Hokkaido, many of the farmer settlers also had militia duties to protect Japan's claim to the territory. In addition to their arduous farming activities, they had to endure inadequate supplies and poor building materials - with the result that houses such as this one built in 1895 in Fukagawa were highly unsuitable for the climate.

• Yamada's Storehouse: Built by a soldier/settler family in 1875 for sericulture, this is one of the few remaining buildings of its type.

• Iwama Family Farmhouse: This family was originally from what is now Miyagi Prefecture. They moved to Hokkaido as part of the Shizoku scheme (land in Hokkaido for former samurai who were stripped of their status and stipends during the Meiji period) and built their farmhouse in 1882 in the style typical of their ancestral lands to the south.

• Kawanishi's Rice Storehouse: Originally from Nagano Prefecture, the family built this property in 1897. It was initially thought that rice would not provide good yields in Hokkaido due to the climate, however the family were among the many beneficiaries of a new kind of rice which by 1887 had allowed full scale rice growing.

• Higuchi Family Farmhouse: This farmhouse belonged to another rice growing family, this time from Toyama Prefecture. They employed a carpenter who was also from Toyama, hence the design is similar to that of the homeland.

• Ogawa Family Dairy Barn: This unusual (for Japan) building was erected in the late Taisho period by Yoshimi Ogawa - a graduate of the Sapporo Agricultural College now called Hokkaido University. The barn was built with reference to American barn architecture of the time and its balloon frame is a special feature.

Mountain Village:

• Kikuta Family Farmhouse: Built in Ebetsu in 1893, this house belonged to Tsunekichi Kikuta, who was a member of a Niigata Prefecture based settler's company called Hokuetsu Shokuminsha. His farmhouse is built in traditional Niigate style.

• Thatched Hut: This is a typical example of a temporary home built by settlers immediately after their arrival in Hokkaido. A settler family would usually live in the hut for 4-5 years until their farm was sufficiently established to enable construction of a more permanent home.

• Charcoal Burning: As the Japanese colonization of Hokkaido extended deeper into the forests, the island gradually became Japan's largest charcoal producer. Charcoal was a valuable fuel and provided the settler's with a supplementary income until their farms could become established.

• Wood Cutter's shed: Built in Shimokawa in the late Taisho period, this shed is representative of the temporary accommodations provided for people working in the timber industry. In Hokkaido, timber was logged in winter, when snow cover makes it easier to haul logs and labour is cheaper since crops were not being raised. Workers who stayed in the shed would have been involved in tree felling, logging, yarding or horse driving.

• Martial Arts Gymnasium: Built in Sapporo in 1929, this building was part of the Sapporo Normal School - the predecessor of today's Sapporo University of Education. This school emphasized martial arts and students had to participate in judo or kendo.

• Locomotive shed: Relocated from Oketo, this late Taisho period was built to store locomotives, rolling stock and other equipment needed for hauling logs.

• Hostel for Sapporo Agricultural College: A two storey building erected in Sapporo in 1903, this hostel was home to over 10,000 students during its life. Unusually, it had a student's council from day one.

The village contains playground facilities for children and has good facilities for wheelchair users, and has the usual cafeterias and souvenir shops etc. It is closed every Monday and over the New Year period (December 29th to January 3rd). Admission prices are slightly cheaper in winter, and are free for school children, adults over 65 years old and disabled people.

How to get there:

From Shin-Sapporo station, take the JR Hokkaido bus via Shin-rin Koen to the Village. It takes about 15 minutes.

Study in Sapporo - It is now possible to study Japanese in Sapporo either during the Sapporo Summer Japanese Course or the winter, including Study Tours.
Click here for more information regarding studying Japanese in Sapporo.

Tours - The Japan Discovery Tours visit the Historical Village in Sapporo.
Click here for more information regarding when Discovery visits this destination.

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Opening hours, prices, booking procedures, schedules etc are subject to changes beyond our control. This site is just a guide, and we advise that you always check and confirm in advance. Suggestions, additions and correction of errors are always welcome. Please contact us.