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| Goryōkaku | |
|---|---|
五稜郭 | |
| Part ofBoshin War | |
| Near Hakodate in Japan | |
 Goryōkaku viewed from Goryōkaku Tower | |
 Governmental hall of the Republic of Ezo | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Star fort |
| Location | |
  Goryōkaku | |
| Coordinates | 41°47′49″N140°45′25″E / 41.79694°N 140.75694°E /41.79694; 140.75694 |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1866 |
| Built by | Takeda Ayasaburō |
| Battles/wars | Boshin War |
 19th century map of Goryōkaku | |
Goryōkaku (五稜郭;lit. 'five-point fort') is astar fort in the Japanese city ofHakodate on the island ofHokkaido.[1] The fortress was completed in 1866. It was the main headquarters of the short-livedRepublic of Ezo.
Goryōkaku was designed in 1855 byTakeda Ayasaburō, aRangaku scholar.[2]He studied the fortified cities of Europe in the early modern period to design a fort that could protect against battles using guns and cannons. It took nearly seven years for the construction.[3] The fortress was completed in 1866, two years before the collapse of theTokugawa shogunate. It is shaped like a five-pointed star. This allowed for greater numbers of gun emplacements on its walls than a traditional Japanese fortress, and reduced the number of blind spots where a cannon could not fire.
The fort was built by the Tokugawa shogunate, he orderedTakeda Ayasaburō to design the fort for the purpose of protectingTsugaru Strait.[3] It became the capital of theRepublic of Ezo, a state that existed only in 1869. It was the site of thelast battle of theBoshin War between the Republic and theEmpire of Japan. The fighting lasted for a week (June 20–27, 1869).
After the war, most of the buildings were torn down due to their association with the Tokugawa shogunate and the Tokugawa-allied rebels, and the fortress was left unused. The moat was used for collecting ice in the winter, forming a considerable commercial industry. The ice was sold on Honshu under the name "Goryōkaku Ice".
Goryōkaku became a park in 1914 and was declared as a Special Historical Site in 1952. Nowadays it is part of Hakodate city museum and houses numerous cherry trees, being a famous spot forcherry-blossom viewing in spring.
Next to Goryōkaku is an observation tower and a visitor center, built in 2006. The tower offers a birds-eye view of the fortress, the surrounding city andMount Hakodate, in addition to an exhibition about the history of the fortress and the various people associated with it. Majorly featured isHijikata Toshizō, who has multiple statues within the tower.
While all but one of the historical buildings in Goryōkaku were torn down after the war, a partial reconstruction of its main building – the magistrate's office – has been built. Planning and archaeological investigation started in 1985, construction began in 2006, and the building was finished in 2010. The reconstructed magistrate's office houses an exhibition about the history of the building as theTokugawa shogunate's brief administrative center of Hokkaido, Goryōkaku as a whole, and the reconstruction process.
100 Fine Castles of Japan by region | ||
|---|---|---|
| Hokkaido | .svg) | |
| Tōhoku | ||
| Kantō | ||
| Chūbu | ||
| Kansai | ||
| Chūgoku | ||
| Shikoku | ||
| Kyushua | ||
a includingOkinawa. | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
