Hokkaido: Local Specialties, Souvenirs, Shrines & Temples, Sightseeing | Japan 47 Prefecture Guide
Calling Hokkaido's food "abundant" says nothing at all. The numbers show what this land actually carries for the rest of Japan.
Local Specialties
More than half of Japan's raw milk comes from Hokkaido. What matters, though, is not the volume but how it is used.
On Honshu, most milk is drunk fresh. Hokkaido is a long way from the places that consume it, so from the beginning the assumption was processing: butter, cheese, skimmed milk powder.
A disadvantage of distance created an industry of processing. Hokkaido became dairy country for more reasons than simply having a lot of cows.
Potatoes: about 80 percent of the national crop. Sugar beet is grown almost entirely here. Beet is the raw material for sugar. Japan leans heavily on imported material, but a substantial share of its domestic sugar rests on this one prefecture.
Souvenirs
Dairy and chocolate fill the souvenir counters not out of taste but because the raw materials are local.
The cold climate suits confectionery that does not travel well in heat. That is one reason fresh chocolate became a signature product.
Processed seafood follows the same logic. Freezing and drying are what made it possible to carry the catch a long way.
Sacred Sites | Shrines & Temples
30 shrines and temples worth knowing in Hokkaido.
Hokkaido Jingu(Sapporo)Shinto shrine / New Ichinomiya of Ezo Province / Central Hokkaido / Blessings: good fortune, warding off misfortune
Founded by decree of Emperor Meiji as guardian of the frontier. Barely 150 years old, yet no shrine in Hokkaido draws more worshippers. It enshrines the three deities of land development.
Hakodate Hachimangu(Hakodate)Shinto shrine / Southern Hokkaido / Blessings: victory, safe voyages
Southern Hokkaido was tied to Honshu early on by the kitamaebune trade and the herring fishery. The shrine's history follows that.
Ubagami Daijingu(Esashi)Shinto shrine / Southern Hokkaido / Blessings: good catches, safe voyages
Said to be among the oldest shrines in Hokkaido. It is bound up with life in Esashi, which the herring boom sustained.
Obihiro Jinja(Obihiro)Shinto shrine / Eastern Hokkaido / Blessings: good harvests, good fortune
A shrine that grew with the opening of the Tokachi plain. Ezo squirrels are often seen in its grounds.
Abashiri Jinja(Abashiri)Shinto shrine / Eastern Hokkaido / Blessings: good catches, safe voyages
Guardian of the Okhotsk fisheries. It enshrines the three Munakata goddesses, showing that sea worship reached the northern edge of the country.
Kamikawa Jinja(Asahikawa)Shinto shrine / Northern Hokkaido / Blessings: good fortune, warding off misfortune
The tutelary shrine of Asahikawa. It sits on Kaguraoka hill, tied to the history of the tondenhei settler-soldiers.
Otasan Jinja(Setana)Shinto shrine / Southern Hokkaido / Blessings: warding off misfortune, mountain worship
Called the hardest shrine in Japan to reach. Beyond a steep stone stairway, worshippers haul themselves up the rock by chain to the main hall.
Hokkaido Gokoku Jinja(Asahikawa)Shinto shrine / Northern Hokkaido / Blessings: warding off misfortune
Enshrined at Asahikawa as guardian of the northern defences. Linked to the tondenhei settler-soldiers.
Hokkaido Jingu Tongu(Sapporo)Shinto shrine / Central Hokkaido / Blessings: love and relationships, warding off misfortune
A place of distant worship set up in the city centre for those unable to climb to the main shrine on Maruyama in winter.
Otaru Sumiyoshi Jinja(Otaru)Shinto shrine / Central Hokkaido / Blessings: safe voyages, business prosperity
The tutelary shrine of Otaru. It grew as the port town prospered.
Koryuji(Hakodate)Buddhist temple / Important Cultural Property / Southern Hokkaido / Blessings: warding off misfortune
Said to be the oldest temple in Hokkaido. It still carries the scars of the Battle of Hakodate.
Shari Jinja(Shari)Shinto shrine / Eastern Hokkaido / Blessings: good catches, warding off misfortune
Standing at the gateway to Shiretoko. It has long watched over the Okhotsk fisheries.
Hokkaido Daijingu(Sapporo)Shinto shrine / Central Hokkaido / Blessings: good fortune
Its deity was invited from Ise. It shows how far faith spread during the settlement years.
Kotohira Jinja(Nemuro)Shinto shrine / Eastern Hokkaido / Blessings: safe voyages, good catches
Said to have been founded by Takadaya Kahei. Guardian of the northern fisheries.
Muroran Hachimangu(Muroran)Shinto shrine / Central Hokkaido / Blessings: victory, safe voyages
The tutelary shrine of a town built on steel and its harbour.
Itsukushima Jinja(Kushiro)Shinto shrine / Eastern Hokkaido / Blessings: good catches, safe voyages
The tutelary shrine of Kushiro. A sea deity invited from Itsukushima in Aki.
Obihiro Fudoson(Obihiro)Buddhist temple / Eastern Hokkaido / Blessings: warding off misfortune
A Fudo hall that drew the faith of the settlers of Tokachi.
Toyako Hachiman Jinja(Toyako)Shinto shrine / Central Hokkaido / Blessings: warding off misfortune
The shrine of a land that has lived through eruption after eruption of Mount Usu.
Kamikawa Jinja Tongu(Asahikawa)Shinto shrine / Northern Hokkaido / Blessings: good fortune
The in-town hall paired with the main shrine on Kaguraoka.
Kitami Jinja(Kitami)Shinto shrine / Eastern Hokkaido / Blessings: good harvests, good fortune
The tutelary shrine of a town that prospered on the peppermint boom.
Matsumae Jinja(Matsumae)Shinto shrine / Southern Hokkaido / Blessings: victory
Enshrines Takeda Nobuhiro, founder of the Matsumae clan. It stands in the only castle town in Hokkaido.
Hokkaido Toshogu(Hakodate)Shinto shrine / Southern Hokkaido / Blessings: victory, good fortune
A Toshogu built by the Hakodate magistrate's office to display the authority of the shogunate.
Sapporo Fushimi Inari Jinja(Sapporo)Shinto shrine / Central Hokkaido / Blessings: business prosperity, wealth
Vermilion torii line the foot of Mount Moiwa. The deity was invited from Fushimi.
Nibutani Chinomisir(Biratori)Utaki (Ryukyuan sacred grove) / Central Hokkaido / Blessings: mountain worship, rebirth and renewal
Places where the Ainu have long offered prayer. There is no shrine building; the mountain and the river themselves are what is revered.
Rishirizan Jinja(Rishirifuji)Shinto shrine / Northern Hokkaido / Blessings: mountain worship, good catches
An island shrine that faces Mount Rishiri. Mountain worship among a people of the sea.
Yamanoue Daijingu(Hakodate)Shinto shrine / Southern Hokkaido / Blessings: good fortune
Halfway up Mount Hakodate. A nephew of Sakamoto Ryoma once served here as priest.
Kaguraoka(Asahikawa)Shinto shrine / Northern Hokkaido / Blessings: good fortune
On a hill looking out to the Daisetsuzan range. The tutelary shrine of Asahikawa.
Ryugu Jinja(Otaru)Shinto shrine / Central Hokkaido / Blessings: business prosperity
Founded by Enomoto Takeaki. It looks down over Otaru.
Tarumaesan Jinja(Tomakomai)Shinto shrine / Central Hokkaido / Blessings: mountain worship
Faces the active volcano Mount Tarumae. The tutelary shrine of Tomakomai.
Yusawa Jinja(Noboribetsu)Shinto shrine / Central Hokkaido / Blessings: long life
The shrine that guards the hot waters of Jigokudani.
Sightseeing
Shiretoko Goko is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Breakdown: castle 1, historic townscape 1, hot spring 1, nature / scenery 8. 15 places to see in Hokkaido.
Esashi Togyosai(Esashi)festival / event / Southern Hokkaido / 1447 (traditional date)
Said to be the oldest festival in Hokkaido. Floats parade the town in thanks for a good herring catch.
Goryokaku(Hakodate)castle / Southern Hokkaido / Special Historic Site / Historic Site / 1864
Japan's first Western-style star fort, and the final stage of the Battle of Hakodate.
Otaru Canal(Otaru)historic townscape / Central Hokkaido / 1923
A canal dug for loading cargo. Stone warehouses stand mirrored in the water.
Shiretoko Goko(Shari)nature / scenery / Eastern Hokkaido / UNESCO World Heritage (Natural) / UNESCO World Heritage
Five lakes scattered through primeval forest. The trail runs through brown bear country.
Noboribetsu Jigokudani(Noboribetsu)hot spring / Central Hokkaido
The remains of an explosion crater 450 metres across. Nine kinds of spring water rise here.
Furano(Furano)nature / scenery / Central Hokkaido
In July the hills turn purple. It began as cultivation for the perfume trade.
Biei(Biei)nature / scenery / Central Hokkaido
Each crop takes a different colour, so the fields read like patchwork.
Sapporo Clock Tower(Sapporo)museum / theatre / Central Hokkaido / Important Cultural Property / 1878
The drill hall of Sapporo Agricultural College. The clock has kept running since 1881.
Lake Akan(Kushiro)nature / scenery / Eastern Hokkaido / Special Natural Monument / Natural Monument
Algae that grow into spheres. Few lakes in the world grow them this large and this round.
Mt. Hakodate(Hakodate)nature / scenery / Southern Hokkaido
The sea presses in from both sides, and the land narrows into an hourglass of light.
Yoichi Distillery(Yoichi)industrial heritage / Central Hokkaido / 1934
Still distilled over a direct coal fire. Taketsuru Masataka chose the site for a climate close to Scotland's.
Drift Ice(Abashiri)nature / scenery / Eastern Hokkaido
The southernmost sea in the northern hemisphere where drift ice reaches the shore. Icebreakers push through it.
Lake Shikotsu(Chitose)nature / scenery / Central Hokkaido
The second deepest lake in Japan, and one that never freezes.
Sapporo Snow Festival(Sapporo)festival / event / Central Hokkaido / 1950
It started with snow sculptures made by junior high school students. Two million people now come.
Kushiro Shitsugen(Kushiro)nature / scenery / Eastern Hokkaido / Ramsar Wetland
Japan's largest wetland. Red-crowned cranes breed here.
Traditional Crafts
Hokkaido has only two nationally designated traditional crafts: Nibutani-ita and Nibutani-attus. Both are Ainu work, designated in 2013.
Ita is a carved tray; attus is cloth woven from the inner bark of the Manchurian elm. Neither began as something to sell. They began as tools people made for themselves.
More: VILLAGE Journal vol.47 — The last village, and the handwork of the Ainu（リンク先は現在公開されていません）
More from This Prefecture
Specialties, souvenirs, sights: follow any of them back and they arrive at the same place. The cold, the distance, and the sheer size of the land.
See all Hokkaido articles ← All 47 prefectures
Sources: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Crop Statistics Survey; Milk and Dairy Products Statistics), Hokkaido Government, Ministry of the Environment, Biratori Town, Hokkaido Jingu, Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries — Value Village editorial team