Goryokaku
Hakodate Port on the northernmost island of Hokkaido was opened to foreign ships in 1854 as part of the Treaty of Kanagawa, a Convention of Peace and Amity between the United States of America and the Empire of Japan. To defend Hakodate, the shogun began construction of the star-shaped fortress, the Goryokaku, taking seven years to complete.
The layout was designed by Western studies scholar, Hisaburo Takeda and based on the plans of a French military engineer, Vuaban. The five star-points were designed to allow greater numbers of artillery emplacements while eliminating any blind spots. To avoid becoming a target for enemy ship canon fire, the fortress was bereft of any tall towers or turrets that would aid targeting. The fortress was surrounded by a water filled moat, and low stonework topped with thick earthen embankments to withstand shelling.
At first glance, the outline of the Goryokaku has six bastions, or star-points, however one is a triangular section of defensive wall acting as an umadashi, a defensive wall for protecting the main gates.
At the end of the feudal period, the Tokugawa loyalists occupied the Goryokaku at the end of October, 1868, defending it against the Imperial forces. The pro-shogunate forces sought to establish independence as the “Republic of Ezo” (the old name for Hokkaido) but this republic was to be short lived. A large fleet of warships sailed into Hakodate, and 7,000 imperial troops besieged the fortress, leading to the Battle of the Goryokaku. The rebels were forced to surrender in May the following year.
The main structures within the Goryokaku were later demolished, but the Hakodate Magistrate’s Office was reconstructed in 2009.
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