Sapporo Clock Tower, called Sapporo Tokeidai in Japanese, is a two-story wooden landmark in central Sapporo. Its formal name is the Former Sapporo Agricultural College Drill Hall. Built in 1878, it is one of the city’s few surviving Western-style buildings from the early Meiji period and a historical symbol of Sapporo.
Sapporo Clock Tower’s simple rural appearance adds to its charm
The building was designated a National Important Cultural Property in 1970, with the tower-clock mechanism included as an attached component. In 2009 the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers designated the mechanism Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 32.
The History of Sapporo Clock Tower
Ainu people lived in the region long before Sapporo was planned as a modern city. In 1869 the Meiji government established the Hokkaido Development Commission, or Kaitakushi, and began large-scale development of Sapporo. The commission brought in American educators and specialists to help introduce Western agricultural and educational methods. Sapporo Agricultural College, the predecessor of Hokkaido University, opened in 1876.
The Clock Tower’s 17 red stars reproduce the Hokkaido Development Commission emblem, modeled on Polaris, the North Star
Sapporo Clock Tower was completed on October 16, 1878, as the drill hall of Sapporo Agricultural College. Clark proposed the facility, second vice-principal William Wheeler prepared its basic plan, and Kaitakushi engineer Yoshiyuki Adachi designed and supervised its construction. The American-influenced wooden building has clapboard walls and prominent gables. Other campus buildings included dormitories, lecture halls, a chemistry building and a library. An astronomical observatory completed in 1879 was used for teaching and later helped calibrate the tower clock. The first-floor diorama shows the college campus as it appeared in the late 19th century.
A diorama showing the original layout of Sapporo Agricultural College
The building was originally a military drill hall, or enbujo, and its roof had a small bell tower rather than a clock tower. The first floor contained laboratories, lecture rooms and displays of animal, plant and mineral specimens. The second floor was used for military drills, physical education, ceremonies and other gatherings. Wheeler ordered a tower clock from E. Howard & Co. in October 1878. When the mechanism arrived in 1879, it was too large for the original bell tower, so a larger tower was built to hold it. The clock began operating on August 12, 1881. Its original weight-driven mechanism remains in service, and the bell sounds at every hour.
Sapporo Agricultural College moved to the site of today’s Hokkaido University in 1903. Sapporo’s local government acquired the drill hall and, in 1906, moved the entire building about 100 metres south to its present site to allow the extension of Kita-2-jo Avenue. The building was moved intact rather than dismantled and reconstructed.
After the move, the Hokkaido and Sapporo education associations used the building as offices, a library, a lecture hall and a cultural venue until 1943. It was used for military purposes during the war and housed Sapporo City Library from 1950 through 1966. The building was restored in 1967 and opened as Sapporo Historical Museum in 1978.
A display inside the Clock Tower museum showing works of literature and song that have celebrated Sapporo Clock Tower
The Clock Tower Today
Today the first floor of Sapporo Clock Tower is an exhibition space in which a variety of models, photographs and other displays tell the story of the Clock Tower, Sapporo Agricultural College, and the early development of Sapporo. There is also a shop selling Clock Tower-themed souvenirs on the first floor.
The first floor exhibition area
The second-floor hall recreates the setting shown in a photograph of a celebration held there in 1899 for the first three Sapporo Agricultural College alumni to receive doctoral degrees. The hall is also rented in the evenings for concerts, lectures, weddings and other events.
The auditorium on the second floor
At one end of the second floor is a seated statue of the American educator William Smith Clark, installed in 2017. Clark was Sapporo Agricultural College’s first vice-principal and shaped its early teaching program. He proposed military drills and a dedicated drill hall, but returned to the United States in 1877, before the building was completed. He is remembered for urging his students to be gentlemen and for the parting words “Boys, be ambitious!” Visitors can sit beside the statue for a photograph.
The statue of William Smith Clark
Also on the second floor is a 1928 E. Howard sister clock with the same basic mechanism as the clock in the tower. Its visible weights, gears and pendulum show visitors how the tower clock works, although the display mechanism has no bell-striking apparatus. The venue sometimes demonstrates the winding of this sister clock, but demonstrations are irregular. The actual 1881 tower clock is not open to visitors and is manually wound twice a week.
The display clock on the second floor
Location
Sapporo Clock Tower is at Kita 1-jo Nishi 2-chome in Chuo Ward. It is about five minutes on foot from Odori Subway Station via the City Hall-side exit. From JR Sapporo Station, follow the underground pedestrian space toward Odori and leave by Exit 9; the walk takes about ten minutes.
There is no visitor parking. The entrance has a small step, so wheelchair users should contact staff using the intercom beside the front gate. A dedicated lift provides access to the second floor. The restroom is in a separate annex reached by a short outdoor passage.
Opening Hours: 8:45-17:10 (last entry at 17:00)
Closed: January 1-3
Admission:
Adults: 350 yen
University students: 150 yen with student ID
High school students and younger: Free; junior high and high school students should show student ID
Adult groups of 20 or more: 300 yen per person
Article and original photos by Michael Lambe. All rights reserved. Last updated 04-Sep-2026.
