En un regard
Le château en bref
The Hekirichi jin'ya, a fortified domain outpost built by the Matsumae domain in 1855, occupies a high, open site in what is now the Nozaki district of Hokuto, on the shore of the strait facing Hakodate. It formed part of the strengthening of Ezo's defences decided after the opening of the port of Hakodate. Its distinctive feature is a Western-inspired star plan, undertaken two years before work began on Goryōkaku. For this reason the city of Hokuto presents it as Japan's first Western-style star fort, a reading echoed by an article in the bulletin of the city's local history museum on the practice of nineteenth-century Western military science. This claim to primacy comes from the municipality and has not been cross-checked here against an independent study.
The site had a short life. In 1868, during the Hakodate War, the garrison holding it set it on fire and abandoned it as former shogunate forces approached. The jin'ya was designated a national Historic Site on 18 March 1965 under the name Matsumae-han Hekirichi jin'ya-ato, at a time when it belonged to the municipality of Kamiiso, now part of Hokuto; excavations were carried out and published by the Kamiiso board of education, notably for fiscal year 1996. Now a historic park, the site is freely open and reached by an avenue of cherry trees leading to the central enclosure.