Ainu Culture Promotion Center (Sapporo Pirka Kotan アイヌ文化センター サッポロピリカコタン) is a museum for understanding Ainu culture in Hokkaido. Pirika means beautiful in Ainu. Cotan means villege. Pirika Cotan is a beautiful villege.

Ainu culture has no letter, so that they have inherited their culture as crafts art, cloths, house, especially literature based on stories that had been passed down orally, successively. Their literatures are very beautiful with its sounds of Ainu language. There are some facilities, a boat and houses of their style in Ainu Culture Promotion Center. This is worth visiting. More, You can see the arts of Ainu in the Museum.

Access to Ainu Culture Promotion Center (Sapporo Pirka Kotan)

• Take a Jotetsu Bus(Jozankei line Kaisoku No.7, 8 to Koganeyu. It takes 60min. Walk 6min.
• Take a Jotetsu Bus(No.12) to Koganeyu. It takes 60min. Walk 6min.

Opening hours

• 8:45 a.m.-10:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. for Exhibition Room)

Closed

• Monday
• National holidays
• New Year holidays (Dec.29-Jan.3)
• Every last Tuesday in the month

Admission fees of Exhibition Room

• Adults: ¥200 (¥180)
• High school students: ¥100 (¥90)

Around Ainu Culture Promotion Center (Sapporo Pirka Kotan)

• Kogane-yu Hot Spa: In front of Sapporo Pirka Kotan. a nice hot spa.
• Matsuno-yu Hot Spa: Left side of Kogane-yu Hot Spa. a nice hot spa.
• Jozankei Gensen Park
• Houheikyo dam
• Sapporo Jozankei Nature Villege
• Atelier Root3
• Miyoshi Art Crafts of Owl: see WEB site(japanese)