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Goryōkaku (五稜郭, lit.'five-point fort') is a star fort in the Japanese city of Hakodate on the island of Hokkaido.[1] The fortress was completed in 1866. It was the main headquarters of the short-lived Republic of Ezo.
History
Goryōkaku was designed in 1855 by Takeda Ayasaburō, a scholar of Dutch.[2]
He studied the fortified cities of Europe in the early modern period to design a fort that could protect against battles using guns and cannons. It took nearly seven years for the construction.[3] The fortress was completed in 1866, two years before the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate. It is shaped like a five-pointed star. This allowed for greater numbers of gun emplacements on its walls than a traditional Japanese fortress, and reduced the number of blind spots where a cannon could not fire.
The fort was built by the Tokugawa shogunate, he ordered Takeda Ayasaburō to design the fort for the purpose of protecting Tsugaru Strait.[3] It became the capital of the Republic of Ezo, a state that existed only in 1869. It was the site of the last battle of the Boshin War between the Republic and the Empire of Japan. The fighting lasted for a week (June 20–27, 1869).
Park
Today, Goryōkaku is a park declared as a Special Historical Site, being a part of the Hakodate city museum and a citizens' favorite spot for cherry-blossom viewing in spring.
Benesch, Oleg and Ran Zwigenberg (2019). Japan's Castles: Citadels of Modernity in War and Peace. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 374. ISBN9781108481946.
De Lange, William (2021). An Encyclopedia of Japanese Castles. Groningen: Toyo Press. p. 600. ISBN978-9492722300.
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