Maruyama Park in Sapporo
First park visited in Sapporo. This is full of beautiful park. There are many green spaces everywhere and it is a city that breathes. The whole city is surrounded by hills as well as large green areas. It is therefore very easy to find green spaces. That’s one of the reasons we feel good here. Green spaces everywhere, wide and airy streets, moderate traffic, in short a very high quality of life. At this season the parks are beautiful because there are all the autumn colors. Yellow, orange and red, a magnificent contrast. If you think you can find this type of forest and vegetation only in Europe or North America you are mistaken. Japan has all this beautiful vegetation.
Maruyama is a mountain at an altitude of 226 m in the westrn part of Chuo Ward, Sapporo city, and used to be called Mt. Moiwa. It means “A small mountain” in Ainu language. Mr. Michitoshi Iwamura, Chief of Hokkaido Development Commission, named after Maruyama Village after Maruyama in Kyoto in 1872, and the mountain has been called “Mt. Maruyama” before people knows it. Mauyama is called “Maruyama Park” at present, and it is a place of recreation and relaxation for Sapporo citizen.
The wide area is about 70 ha, and Hokkaido-jingu Shrine, Maruyama Athletic Field and Maruyama Zoo are built at the site, and Maruyama Virgin Forest grows, too, and this park has rich nature. It is well known for a famous place for cherry blossoms and fall foliage, and a lot of tourists come. In addition, the Mt. Maruyama can be hiked, too, and trails are built for about 3 km in total length, and the time it takes to hike the mountain is around 1 hour.
