JAPAN ALMANAC
Interpretive illustration of Goryōkaku's star-shaped fort and moats; not a site photograph.

Castle Atlas / No. 2

Goryōkaku

Goryokaku moves the atlas away from postcard keeps immediately: it was a late-Edo star fort built for the Hakodate magistracy, then became central to the final fighting of the Boshin War in Hokkaido.

Open in Google MapsOfficial visitor source

History

What historically stood here

The Japan Castle Foundation records 五稜郭 as a 平城 site in 函館市, with the founding label 安政4年（1857）. The listed builder or associated clan is 江戸幕府; principal lords are （箱館奉行）.

The site’s history spans Late Edo, Boshin War, Meiji preservation.

Today

What you are actually seeing today

You are mainly seeing the star-shaped earthwork, moat geometry, park landscape, reconstructed magistrate office context, and a preserved military plan rather than an original medieval keep.

Current condition
Stonework and earthworks
Terrain
Hirajiro: flatland castle
Condition note
Stonework or earthworks only. Classified 2026-09-24 from the structured fields at https://cmeg.jp/w/castles/1.

Architecture And Defense

How to read the place

  • star-fort plan
  • moats
  • late-Edo defensive geometry

Cultural-property notes in the Foundation row: 国指定特別史跡.

Visit

Present-day visitor information

Public park and visitor site; check Hakodate City for current facility access.

Address or access location
北海道函館市函館市五稜郭町本通1
Coordinates
41.796888, 140.756986
Nearest useful station
Goryokaku-koen-mae tram stop / Hakodate Station by bus or tram
Estimated visit duration
2-3 hours
Opening hours
Check the official visitor source.
Admission
Check the official visitor source.

Seasonal planning note

  • Spring blossom crowds are likely around Goryokaku Park.

Nearby

Castles close enough to compare

Sources

Source and correction context

Identity, list membership, Foundation list number, municipality, basic classification and cultural-property notes are source-verified. Site-level visitor details require additional review unless this record is publishable. Foundation numbers are official list identifiers, not rankings. Coordinates use the Foundation-linked position-data KML and should be treated as visitor-planning coordinates rather than archaeological survey points.

Sources

  1. Japan's Top 100 and Continued Top 100 Castle Position Data, Japan Castle Foundation / Nippon Castle. Accessed 2026-09-04. Used for the 200 castle addresses and coordinates exposed through the public map linked from the Japan Castle Foundation castle-search page.
  2. Japan's Top 100 Castles, Japan Castle Foundation. Accessed 2026-09-04. Used for the official identity, list number, list membership, location municipality, castle type, founding label, builders, principal lords, cultural-property notes, and keep-status notes for the original 100-castle selection.
  3. 100 Fine Castles of Japan and Continued 100 Fine Castles of Japan, Wikipedia contributors. Accessed 2026-09-04. Used only as a secondary cross-check for common English castle names; Japan Castle Foundation records remain the corpus source of truth.
  4. Nippon Shiro Meguri castle records: keep structure, remains and rebuilt structures, Nippon Shiro Meguri (cmeg.jp). Accessed 2026-09-24. Structured fields for each of the 200 castles, used to classify what stands at each site today. The linked record for each castle is its coordinate source.