Goryokaku

고료카쿠

Goryokaku, meaning "five-point fort", is a star-shaped fortress in Hakodate, on the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan. It was completed in 1866, just two years before the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, the government that had ruled Japan for centuries.

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At a glance

Country: Japan
Location: Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan
Built: 1866
Type: Fort

Quick answers

Where is Goryokaku?

Goryokaku is in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan.

When was Goryokaku built?

Goryokaku was built in 1866.

A star-shaped Western-style fortress in Hakodate, the stage of the 1868–1869 Battle of Hakodate.

The fort was designed to protect the Tsugaru Strait, using ideas from European fortified cities. Its star shape lets defenders place more guns on the walls and leaves fewer blind spots than a traditional Japanese castle. Today it is a park and a Special Historic Site, and in spring it is one of Japan's famous places to watch cherry blossoms.

History

A scholar of Western learning, Takeda Ayasaburō, designed it in 1855 after studying European forts, and building took seven years. After the shogunate fell, rebels set up a short-lived state called the Republic of Ezo and used Goryokaku as its headquarters. The week-long last battle of the Boshin War was fought here. Afterwards most buildings were torn down, and the moat was used to collect ice that was sold on the main island as "Goryokaku Ice".

Visiting today

Goryokaku became a park in 1914 and a Special Historic Site in 1952. A tall observation tower, opened in 2006, shows the star shape from above. The old magistrate's office, the fort's main building, was partly rebuilt and finished in 2010, and it now holds an exhibition about the fort's story. Hijikata Toshizō, a famous swordsman, is shown in statues in the tower.