Hakodate Fortress

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Hokkaidō

Hakodate Fortress is not a daimyo castle but a coastal defence complex built by the Imperial Japanese Army in the late Meiji era on Mount Hakodate, the 334-metre headland that closes the bay and overlooks the Tsugaru Strait. Begun in 1898 as rivalry with Russia intensified, the works lasted about five years and produced several howitzer and mortar batteries, observation posts, powder magazines and underground shelters linked by military roads, all built of stone and brick masonry. Renamed Tsugaru Fortress in 1927, the site remained a forbidden military zone until 1946: civilians could not enter, and sketching or photographing the surroundings was prohibited, a long closure that also protected the mountain's forest. Today the remains of batteries such as Gotenyama No. 2 and Senjōjiki can be explored along the trails near the ropeway and the observation deck, among the most complete witnesses of modern coastal fortification in Japan.