Bust of Dr. W.S. Clark

On the north-west corner of the Central Lawn is a statue of William S. Clark, the founding father of Hokkaido University. The first version of the statue was created by the sculptor Sekiro Tajima in 1926 as part of the 50th anniversary of the university’s foundation, with contributions from within and outside the university. Dr. Clark’s famous phrase, ‘Boys be Ambitious,’ was inscribed on its base. A design of the gigantic water lily from the Amazon, Victoria regia, which motivated Dr. Clark to be a botanist/agriculturist, was also on the base at the suggestion of Kingo Miyabe, who designed and became the first director of the Hokkaido University Botanical Garden. However, the first statue was melted down in 1943 under the Metal Recovery Act during World War II. The current statue was recast by the sculptor Kensei Kato in 1948. Although Mr. Tajima had already passed away, the original cast was fortunately stored in the Sapporo Dokuritsu Church. The unveiling ceremony was held on October 8, 1948, restoring the legacy left by this great educator and visionary.

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