Travel Guide Hakodate

The third largest city in Hokkaidō with 270,000 inhabitants, Hakodate remains a strategic and economic place for the island. It has held an important place in the history of Japan and the island. Founded in the 13th century, it immediately became an important fishing and trading port. Admirably situated at the foot of a hill (Mount Hakodate) and at the bottom of two bays forming an isthmus, it established maritime relations with the Russians in the 18th century. In 1854, it signed one of the first treaties (Treaty of Kanagawa) and took pride in the construction of the Goryōkaku, the first Western-style fortress in 1864, at the foot of Mount Hakodate. In 1869, the last loyalist supporter of the Tokugawa shōgun , Vice Admiral Takeaki Enomoto (1838-1908), came to retreat there with his fleet and created an independent republic from the fort of Goryōkaku, a republic that was even recognized by France and Great Britain. Admiral Kiyotaka Kuroda, of the Meiji Imperial Army, took more than six months to overcome the resistance of the loyalists.