Sapporo Snow Festival: Susukino Site (2)

Hello everyone and welcome back to Tiro Finale for our month long Sapporo Snow Festival Special where, today we are going to wrap up our coverage of the three main snow festival sites with a final look at the Susukino Site. In case you missed it, we first checked out the large outdoors Tsudome Site. Followed by, the internationally known Oodori Site where Snow Miku resides. Finally, we take a trip to the ice statue street that is the Susukino Site. 

Having already covered much of the history and attractions of the Susukino Site, today's entry focuses entirely upon the stunning, award winning ice statues of the event. Themed heavily towards wildlife and mythical beasts, these ice statues were truly a sight to behold and stood head and shoulder above the others. 

As such, it was no surprise to see the vast majority of visitors to the Susukino site having gathered around the area where these ice statues resided. 

Mythical beasts such as dragons and phoenixes were a common subject of choice and were certainly a sight to behold in their chilling icy form. Even more impressive than the choice of subject was often the presentation of it. From the scales of the dragon to the feathers of the phoenix, each one has been carefully etched into the surface of the fragile ice blocks. 

Detailing was not the only factor that set apart these group of ice statues from the rest as a good pose was equally important too. Many of the award winning statues had incredibly dynamic poses that make you wonder how such poses could have been created from bricks of ice. 

Bricks of ice, you ask? Yes, indeed that is the case with many of these ice statues as they first start of their life as several large bricks of ice stacked upon one another. If you look closely at the ice statues, you can even spot the seams which make out the bricks. Although, I am sure the blocks have since melted and refroze to form a single cohesive block. This is certainly much more practical than transporting one large block of ice too. 

With wings spread far apart or beaks sharp as arrowheads, I was often left at awe in how the statues held together. After all, ice is known to be extremely brittle and any sudden mistake would have meant starting all over again!

Saving the best for last is the first prize winner from all the ice statues on display that day. While I am not ice statues judging expert, it is not hard to see why this particular piece was selected to be the first prize winner. 

A little further on from the award winning statues was the tail end of the Susukino Site featuring a lovely illuminated carriage. Accompanying this carriage are several other illuminated displays that stood out very well at night.

Despite being easily the smallest of the three sites, the Susukino site is one not to be missed under any circumstance. Only, do come after sunset because then is when the Susukino site truly wakes up with its lovely illuminations and dazzling ice statues. 

With that, we come to the end of our coverage for the Susukino site and by extension all three sites of the Sapporo Snow Festival. But, fear not as for the rest of the month, we still have exciting content from Sapporo lined up for Tiro Finale as well. Stay tuned for that! Until the next time, thank you so much for reading and have yourself a wonderful day ahead!