On February 11 (Sun.), Sapporo's winter festival, "Sapporo Snow Festival," came to a close for another year. A certain video has been making a sensation on social networking sites.

Ice sculptures being smashed to pieces in an instant! The photo was taken of ice sculptures on display at the Susukino venue. While the snow sculptures are impressive at the Odori venue, the Susukino venue is lined with fantastic ice sculptures every year, and unique ice sculptures with crabs and fish trapped in them also have a strong presence.

Ice statues at the Susukino venue of the Snow Festival (photos of past events)

The sight of such ice statues vigorously shattering has attracted astonished comments on SNS, such as "the beauty of destruction," "so scuffling," "avant-garde wabi-sabi," "ephemeral and beautiful..." and so on.

We asked Mr. Klin, who posted the video, to talk about the filming.

When was it filmed?

What was the surrounding area like during the demolition?

There were a couple of rows of galleries lined up from the roadside fence around the area where the demolition work was being done.
They cheered every time an ice sculpture was broken, including myself, and it was very exciting!

The power of the ice sculptures can be seen in the video, which must have been a shock to those who saw it in person. In recent years, even the dismantling of the ice sculptures has become a tradition of the Snow Festival, and many tourists gather to watch the moment of destruction.

It is a sad sight to see the elaborately made ice sculptures being dismantled, but it is a spectacle that one cannot take one's eyes off!