Goryōkaku

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Goryōkaku
五稜郭
Part of Boshin War
Near Hakodate in Japan
Goryōkaku viewed from Goryōkaku Tower
governmental hall of the Republic of Ezo
Goryōkaku
Coordinates	Coordinates: 41°47′49″N 140°45′25″E / 41.79694°N 140.75694°E / 41.79694; 140.75694
Type	Star fort
Site history
Built	1866
Built by	Takeda Hisaburō
Battles/wars	Boshin War
19th century map of Goryōkaku

Goryōkaku (五稜郭) (literally, "five-point fort") is a star fort in the Japanese city of Hakodate on the island of Hokkaido.^[1][2] The fortress was completed in 1866. It was the main fortress of the short-lived Republic of Ezo.

History[]

Goryōkaku was designed in 1855 by Takeda Ayasaburō. His plan was based on the work of the French architect Vauban.^[1] The fortress was completed in 1866, two years before the collapse of the Tokugawa 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 to protect the Tsugaru Strait against a possible invasion by the Russian fleet.^[1]

Goryōkaku is famous as the site of the last battle of the Boshin War. The fighting lasted for a week (June 20–27, 1869).^[1]

Park[]

Today, Goryōkaku is a park declared as a Special Historical Site, being a part of the Hakodate city museum and a citizens' favorite spot for cherry-blossom viewing in spring.

See also[]

• List of Special Places of Scenic Beauty, Special Historic Sites and Special Natural Monuments
• Benten Daiba, another key fortress of the Republic of Ezo
• Citadel Hill, a similar shaped fortress in Nova Scotia, Canada
• Fort Bourtange, a similarly-shaped fortress in the Netherlands.
• List of foreign-style castles in Japan
• Palmanova

References[]

Further reading[]

• Benesch, Oleg and Ran Zwigenberg (2019). Japan's Castles: Citadels of Modernity in War and Peace. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 374. ISBN 9781108481946.
• Schmorleitz, Morton S. (1974). Castles in Japan. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co. p. 144. ISBN 0-8048-1102-4.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Goryokaku.

• Japan Atlas: Goryokaku Fort
• Sightseeing in Hakodate: Goryokaku Area
• Goryokaku Tower