Hill of Buddha and Moai Statues in Sapporo (Winter)
It was a lazy Sunday during a big snowstorm in Sapporo, as I was sipping a hot coffee in the morning, I was invited to visit The Hill of the Buddha and Moai Statues located in Makomanai Takino Cemetary. Since I had never visited that place, and I was always sitting down doing coding works the entire week, I decided to go. The trip was better than I expected since visiting the place during winter gave me different kind of serene experience!
- Place: 2 Takino, Minami Ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido 005-0862
- Entrance Fee: FREE
- ACCESS:
Makomanai Takino Cemetary is located on the south outskirt of Sapporo. Since it is located quite far away from the downtown area, if you are planning to go visit during the weekdays, be prepared to prepare around 1420 yen for transportation (580 yen for roundtrip subway fare from Sapporo Station, and 840 yen for roundtrip bus fare from Makomanai Station). Wants to explore Hokkaido with guided private tour? book here!
The Trip & Takino Flower Marche
Honestly one of the reason why I decided to go is because we had a free bus ticket coupon from this campaign called “Happy Bus Day”! The Bus Station is located right next to Makomanai Subway Station so there was not a lot of walking. There were also some international tourists we met along the way. The Bus Station is located right next to Takino Flower Marche, a flower shop specialized in selling Succulent plants. Oh, and also make sure to keep your eye on the bus schedule, because you do not want to miss the last bus back to the Subway Station!
Moai Statues
Moai Statues are located a bit away from the bus station, you need to walk around 5 minutes to the site. These Moai Statues are actually directly visible when you enter the front gate of the cemetery.
The Hill of The Buddha
While the ladies were busy taking pictures around Moai Statues, I decided to go first to the Giant Buddha Statue. This 13.5m (44ft) tall statue was sculpted by Tadao Ando, and the statue is encircled by artificial hill planted with 150,000 Lavender plants! There are also some smaller buddha statues around the giant statue, make sure to walk around the giant statue to find them!
