Nishi (西区; -ku, lit. "west ward") is a

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

composed of residential neighborhoods mostly arranged in grid patterns, with some areas of farmland and forested mountainous terrain mostly near its western and southern edges. It is located the west part of Sapporo city and the second largest of Sapporo's 10 wards. Neighbourhoods within Nishi-ku include Kotoni (琴似), Hachiken (八軒), Nijuyonken (二十四軒), Yamanote (山の手), Nishimachi (西町), Nishino (西野), Fukui (福井), Heiwa (平和), Hassamu (発寒), Miyanosawa (宮の沢), and Kobetsuzawa (小別沢).

Outline

The administrative offices of Nishi-ku are located in the Kotoni neighbourhood. Nishi-ku is the oldest area in a history of urban development in Sapporo. Sapporo Municipal Teine Memorial Museum (手稲記念館), Kotoni Tonden Historical Archives (琴似屯田歴史館資料室), and Mitobe Memorial Museum (三戸部記念館) are sites of historical interest whose focus is on the era of Japanese 'pioneers' in Hokkaidō.

Geography

The eastern part of Nishi-Ku is flat with many residential and commercial areas, but the western part slopes into mountains. Sankaku-yama, located in the western part of the ward in the Yamanote area, is a 311.3m high triangle-shaped mountain and is a popular and easy hike. It leads to Okura jump stadium in Chuo-ku.

Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo is a Japanese professional football club, which plays in the J1 League. The team is based in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido. The club name of "Consadole" is made from ''consado'', a reverse of the Japanese word and the ...

's practice field is also located in Nishi-ku, and is a popular site for the team's fans. Major parks in Nishi-ku are Noshi Koen and Miyagaoka Koen. Numerous other parks may be found, many located along the banks of the Kotoni-Hassamu-gawa and its

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...

. Hiking trails abound. One of the most popular begins from near the Heiwa-no-taki

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

and leads to the

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

of Sapporo's famous

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

, Mt. Teine in which the Olympic game was held in 1972 has some ski ground and an amusement park, located on the division line of Nishi-ku and Teine-ku, the city's northwesternmost ward. In the less built-up neighbourhoods of Nishino, Heiwa, Fukui, and Kobetsuzawa, it is not unusual for

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...

, such as

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...

es and Asiatic

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kno ...

s or their spoor, to be observed.

Transportation

Primary public transportation services are the

Sapporo Municipal Subway The is a mostly-underground rubber-tyred rapid transit system in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Operated by the Sapporo City Transportation Bureau, it is the only subway system on the island of Hokkaido. Lines The system consists of three lines: ...

, JR Hokkaidō, and bus services including JR Hokkaidō Bus and Hokkaidō Chūō Bus. The last four stations of the Tozai subway line's western end are located here, two of which were added in 1999. Japan Highway's Sapporo-Otaru expressway section passes through Nishi-ku.

Rail

JR Hokkaido The is one of the constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group), and is often referred to using its official abbreviation of . It operates intercity and local rail services in Hokkaido, Japan. The company introduced Kitaca, a sm ...

Hakodate Main Line The is a railway line connecting the cities of Hakodate and Asahikawa via Sapporo in Hokkaido, Japan. It is one of the trunk lines operated by the Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido). The Sawara Line, a 35 km loop line from Ōnuma to Mo ...

: Hassamu - Hassamu-Chūō - Kotoni **

Sasshō Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido), which connects in Sapporo and in Tōbetu, Ishikari District. Its name is made up of two characters from and , the latter of which was the terminus of the l ...

Hachiken Station is a railway station on the Sasshō Line in Nishi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, operated by the Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido). The station is numbered G03. Lines Hachiken Station is served by the Sasshō Line (Gakuen Toshi Line) fr ...

** Tōzai Line: Miyanosawa - Hassamu-Minami - Kotoni - Nijūyon-Ken

Road

* Sasson: Sapporo-nishi IC * Route 5

Education

High schools

Public

* Hokkaido Sapporo Seiryou High School * Hokkaido Sapporo Kotoni Technical High School

Private

* Sapporo Yamanote High School

Mascot

Nishi's mascot is is a mountain yōkai. He is discovered in

Kamisunagawa is a List of towns in Japan, town located in Sorachi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. As of September 2016, the town has an estimated population of 3,278. The total area is 39.91 km2. There is a microgravity test facility located in Kamisu ...

in 1959. He is said to inhabit Mount Sankakuyama and Kotonihassamu River. It is believed that he is 1.5 million years old. He loves to eat mountain apples and komatsuna spinaches from the river. As he is a lover of nature (anything natural from the yamame trout to the flowers), he is saving the world from global warming. He is designed by Yuji Motoaki and became mascot in 2007. He is not the only yōkai of his type, there are three others. * is a Chinese yaoguai who studies martial arts like kenpo. She helps Yamabe fight pollution. * is a mountain yōkai who is scholar. He lives in Maruyama and loves studying. * is a yōkai who studies economics such as money. He can expel hot air and environmental pollutants whenever carbon dioxide rises.

References

External links

Nishi ward office
{{Authority control Wards of Sapporo