East Sapporo · MoerenumaNo.711★★★Open in map →

Moerenuma Park

— Isamu Noguchi's land art on Sapporo's edge

cultureThe classic — done right

A park on Sapporo's northeastern edge, built on a capped waste site and designed by Isamu Noguchi as one continuous sculpture. Grass mounds, a glass pyramid and a timed fountain replace what used to be landfill.

FromSapporo Station
~1 hrSubway then city bus
Get off atKanjodori-Higashi Station (Toho Subway Line)
From there
Moerenuma Park

Directions ↗

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Glass Pyramid HIDAMARIthe glazed hall at the centre of the park, holding the information desk, galleries and shelter from the weather
Sea Fountaina water sculpture 48 m across that throws a column roughly 25 m into the air on a posted schedule
Play Mountaina 30 m mound with a broad flight of stone steps up one face and open grass on the other
Mount Moerethe park's own hill at 62 m, with several routes to a summit that looks back across the whole design
Forest of Cherry Treesan orchard-like grove threaded with play equipment along the park's outer edge

How to actually get there

Sapporo Station → Kanjodori-Higashi Station (Toho Subway Line, no transfer).
Kanjodori-Higashi Station → Moerenuma Koen Higashiguchi (Chuo Bus, route Higashi 69 or Higashi 79).
East gate → Glass Pyramid (walk across the lawns), then loop out to Play Mountain and Mount Moere.
Return to the east gate for the bus, allowing more time than the walk in took.

Toho Subway Line then Chuo Bus: Sapporo Station →(Toho Line, about 6 min)→ Kanjodori-Higashi Station, then Chuo Bus route Higashi 69 or Higashi 79 to the Moerenuma Koen Higashiguchi stop, a ride of roughly 25 minutes. Allow about an hour door to gate including the walk inside the park. Buses are far less frequent than the subway, so check the departure board at the bus stop before you leave the station.
Return from the east gate: Take the same Chuo Bus route back to Kanjodori-Higashi and pick up the Toho Line into the centre. Bus services thin out sharply in the evening and stop well before the last subway, so fix your return bus time before you start walking the mounds. Missing it means a long wait or a taxi.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Moerenuma Park occupies about 188.8 hectares on the northeastern edge of Sapporo, inside a bend of the Moere marsh. The land underneath was a municipal waste and spoil site, filled and capped before the surface was reshaped. Isamu Noguchi took on the master plan and treated the whole ground as a single sculpture, so paths, mounds, water and buildings were designed as one composition rather than as separate amenities. The result is unusually plain to look at and unusually good to walk: broad lawns, hard geometric hills, straight avenues of trees. Sculpture here is something you climb rather than stand in front of.

How to enjoy it

Check the fountain schedule before you set out and build the day around one of the sessions, because the water only runs at fixed times and there are more of them at weekends and on holidays. Walk the mounds first while the park is quiet, then work back to the pyramid. In winter the ground turns into a cross-country ski and sledging landscape rather than closing.

Background & history

Sapporo used this low ground beside the Moere marsh as a dump for waste and construction spoil, and the mounds you climb today stand on that capped fill. Noguchi was brought in to plan the conversion and set out the whole site as one artwork before the work began. Construction ran in stages over many years, sections opened to the public as they were finished, and the completed park held its grand opening in 2005. The idea of repairing damaged land through art, rather than merely landscaping over it, is the reason the park is discussed as a work in its own right.

Before you go

Cash: The park itself has no entrance gate charge according to its official information, though individual facilities inside keep their own hours and some activities are paid. Carry an IC card for the subway and the bus, and keep coins as well, since not every service on this route handles cards the same way.
Good to know: The east gate opens through the year while the west gate is seasonal and shuts for the winter half. The Glass Pyramid keeps shorter hours than the grounds and closes on a fixed day each month, so the park can be open while the building is not. Almost everything here is exposed, with no shelter on the mounds.
Another way: Weekday-only Chuo Bus services run to the Moerenuma Koen Nishiguchi stop on the west side, which is closer to the fountain but further from the pyramid. It is a useful alternative on weekdays only, and the west gate itself is closed outside the warm season.
After you get off: Alight at Moerenuma Koen Higashiguchi, walk in through the east gate and continue about 15 minutes across open ground to the Glass Pyramid. The route is flat and paved but almost entirely without shade, so in midsummer take water with you from the bus stop.