En un regard
Le château en bref
Goryōkaku stands on former wetland northeast of central Hakodate, about six kilometres from Mount Hakodate. The shogunate had it built after the port of Hakodate was opened in 1854, when the magistrate's office (bugyōsho), located at the foot of the mountain and exposed to fire from the sea, had to be moved inland to Kameda. The five-pointed star plan is attributed to Takeda Ayasaburō, a scholar in the shogunate's service, who drew on information obtained in 1855 from French military men passing through. Work began in 1857 and was completed around 1864, though the project was scaled back along the way: four of the five planned half-moon outworks were abandoned for lack of funds. The site entered history with the Hakodate War. Former shogunate forces led by Enomoto Takeaki occupied it in the autumn of 1868 and set up their government there, then surrendered in 1869 after the stronghold had been bombarded.
The bugyōsho was dismantled in 1871, and the grounds later served as a military training field from 1873 to 1897. Transferred to the city free of charge in 1913, the fort became a public park the following year. It was designated a Historic Site in 1922 and a Special Historic Site in 1952. An earthen-walled provisions storehouse (dozō) survives as the only original building. Excavations begun in 1985 made possible the reconstruction, completed in 2010, of about one third of the bugyōsho using traditional materials and techniques; the rest of its footprint is marked out on the ground. The water-filled moat, earthen ramparts and stone facings of the entrances can still be read along their original lines.
