Hokkaido · Core city

Hakodate

函館市はこだてしHakodate-shi

Treaty port between two bays at the foot of Mount Hakodate

Hakodate is the historic port city of southern Hokkaido, opened to foreign trade in 1859 and the site of the last battle of the Boshin War at the star-shaped fort Goryōkaku. Its hillside Motomachi district, morning market and night view from Mount Hakodate make it the island's most-visited historic town.

Overview

Hakodate occupies a sandbar isthmus joining the volcanic Mount Hakodate to the mainland of the Oshima Peninsula, with Hakodate Bay on one side and the Tsugaru Strait on the other. The site made it a natural harbour and the gateway between Honshu and Hokkaido long before modern Sapporo existed: Japanese traders and the Matsumae domain used it from the late Middle Ages, and the ferry across the strait to Aomori made it the island's front door until the Seikan Tunnel opened in 1988.

Under the Convention of Kanagawa of 1854 Hakodate was among the first Japanese ports opened to foreign ships, and from 1859 it traded with the West alongside Yokohama and Nagasaki. Consulates, churches and merchant houses rose on the slopes of Motomachi, where Russian Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican and Buddhist buildings still stand within a few hundred metres of each other. The city also witnessed the end of the Boshin War, when the forces of Enomoto Takeaki surrendered at Goryōkaku in 1869.

Fishing – above all squid – shipbuilding and tourism shape the modern economy. The city's boundaries include the hot-spring district of Yunokawa and, since the 2004 mergers, the coast east to Esan and the Jōmon sites of Minamikayabe.

Landmarks

Goryōkaku
五稜郭Goryōkaku
Star-shaped earthwork fort designed by Takeda Ayasaburō and completed in 1864; a Special Historic Site with moats, cherry trees and the reconstructed Hakodate Magistrate's Office. The adjacent tower gives a view of the star shape.
Mount Hakodate
函館山Hakodate-yama
Volcanic hill of 334 m at the tip of the isthmus, once a military zone; its summit view of the lit city between two bays is the classic Hakodate image.
Hakodate Orthodox Church
函館ハリストス正教会Hakodate Harisutosu Seikyōkai
Japan's first Russian Orthodox church, rooted in the Russian consulate chapel of 1859; the white church with green domes dates from 1916 and is an Important Cultural Property.
Old Public Hall of Hakodate Ward
旧函館区公会堂Kyū-Hakodate-ku Kōkaidō
Blue-and-yellow Western-style wooden hall of 1910 overlooking the harbour from Motomachi; an Important Cultural Property.
Kanemori Red Brick Warehouses
金森赤レンガ倉庫Kanemori Aka-renga Sōko
Meiji-era brick warehouses on the waterfront, converted into shops and restaurants.
Hakodate Morning Market
函館朝市Hakodate Asaichi
Market next to Hakodate Station with hundreds of stalls selling crab, squid, sea urchin and salmon roe; begun after the war.
Trappistine Convent
トラピスチヌ修道院Torapisuchinu Shūdōin
Japan's first women's monastery, founded in 1898 by French Trappist nuns on the eastern outskirts; the gardens are open to visitors.

Districts

Motomachi
元町Motomachi
Hillside district below Mount Hakodate with churches, former consulates and sloping streets such as Hachiman-zaka that run straight down to the harbour.
Bay Area
Waterfront around the red-brick warehouses and the former Seikan ferry pier, where the ferry Mashū-maru is preserved as a museum.
Goryōkaku area
Commercial centre of the modern city around the fort, with shops and restaurants.
Yunokawa Onsen
湯の川温泉Yunokawa Onsen
Seaside hot-spring district near the airport, reached by tram, with ryokan (traditional inns) facing the Tsugaru Strait.

History

The name goes back to a fortified residence, said to have looked like a box (hako), built in the fifteenth century by the Japanese lord Kōno Masamichi; the place was written 箱館 until 1869. Under the Tokugawa shogunate the port served the Matsumae domain and the northern trade in herring and kelp, and the merchant Takadaya Kahei developed it into a base for shipping to Ezochi and the Kuril Islands in the early nineteenth century.

Opened to foreign ships in 1854, Hakodate became a cosmopolitan port. Fires repeatedly destroyed the wooden town, most severely in 1934, and the rebuilt city was partly laid out with wide firebreak streets. The end of the Seikan ferries in 1988 and the decline of northern fisheries weighed on the economy, while the historic districts turned the city into a major destination.

15th century
Kōno Masamichi builds a fortified residence on the bay; the settlement becomes known as Hakodate (箱館).
1854
The Convention of Kanagawa names Hakodate as a port open to American ships.
1859
Hakodate opens to foreign trade together with Yokohama and Nagasaki.
1864
Completion of the star fort Goryōkaku and the magistrate's office within it.
1869
Battle of Hakodate: the former shogunate forces of the Republic of Ezo surrender; the name is changed to 函館.
1908
The Seikan ferry service between Aomori and Hakodate begins.
1922
Hakodate is incorporated as a city.
1934
The Great Hakodate Fire destroys much of the city and kills more than 2,000 people.
1988
The Seikan Tunnel opens and the ferry service across the strait ends.
2016
The Hokkaido Shinkansen reaches Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto in the neighbouring city of Hokuto.

Culture

Hakodate's culture is that of an early treaty port: Western wooden houses with Japanese tiled roofs, known as the Hakodate style, churches of several denominations and cemeteries of foreign residents on the slopes of Motomachi. The Boshin War has a lasting place in local memory, with Hijikata Toshizō of the Shinsengumi, killed here in 1869, a popular figure. The poet Ishikawa Takuboku lived in Hakodate in 1907 and is buried at Tachimachi Point.

Festivals

Hakodate Port Festival
函館港まつりHakodate Minato Matsuri
Held in early August since 1935 with fireworks and thousands of residents performing the comic squid dance (ika odori) in parades.
Hakodate Goryōkaku Festival
箱館五稜郭祭Hakodate Goryōkaku-sai
In May, a historical parade re-enacts the Battle of Hakodate and commemorates the fallen of both sides.
Hakodate Christmas Fantasy
In December a large illuminated tree stands in the harbour by the red-brick warehouses, a custom tied to Hakodate's sister city Halifax in Canada.

Food

Squid
いかika
The Japanese flying squid is the city's emblem; it is eaten fresh as ika sōmen, thin raw strips like noodles, or stuffed with rice as ikameshi.
Hakodate shio ramen
塩ラーメンshio rāmen
Clear, salt-seasoned broth of pork and chicken with straight noodles, the counterpart to Sapporo's miso and Asahikawa's soy sauce styles.
Seafood rice bowls
海鮮丼kaisendon
Rice topped with sea urchin, salmon roe, crab and squid, a breakfast tradition at the morning market.
Kelp
真昆布ma-konbu
The coast east of the city produces high-grade ma-konbu kelp, historically shipped to Osaka and Kyoto for dashi stock.

Getting around

Hakodate Airport, about 20 minutes east of the centre by bus, has flights to Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo and other cities.
The Hokkaido Shinkansen stops at Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto, about 18 km north; the Hakodate Liner shuttle links it with Hakodate Station. Limited express trains run to Sapporo in around four hours.
The municipal tram, running since 1913, connects the station, Motomachi, Goryōkaku and Yunokawa Onsen.
Car ferries cross the Tsugaru Strait from Hakodate to Aomori and to Ōma at the tip of the Shimokita Peninsula.

Day trips

Ōnuma
Quasi-national park with lakes dotted with islets beneath the volcano Komaga-take, about half an hour north by train.
Matsumae
Hokkaido's only castle town of the Edo period, seat of the Matsumae domain, famous for cherry blossom.
Jōmon sites of Ōfune and Kakinoshima
Settlement and burial sites of the Jōmon period on the Pacific coast of the city, part of a World Heritage property.
Aomori
Across the Tsugaru Strait by ferry or by Shinkansen through the Seikan Tunnel.
Esan
Active volcano on the eastern tip of the city with fumaroles and azalea slopes.

Other cities in the prefecture

CapitalSapporoSapporo-shiHokkaido's planned capital on the Ishikari Plain Core cityAsahikawaAsahikawa-shiRiver city of the Kamikawa Basin and gateway to Daisetsuzan CityKushiroKushiro-shiFog, cranes and fish: the Pacific gateway to eastern Hokkaido CityOtaruOtaru-shiHerring, coal and banks: the port that built Hokkaido's economy

Frequently asked questions

What is Goryōkaku?

A five-pointed star fort built between 1857 and 1864 on a European model. In 1869 it was the last stronghold of the former shogunate forces of the short-lived Republic of Ezo.

How do I get to Hakodate from Tokyo?

By the Tohoku and Hokkaido Shinkansen to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto in about four hours, then the Hakodate Liner shuttle to Hakodate Station; flights from Tokyo land at Hakodate Airport.

Where is the famous night view?

From the summit of Mount Hakodate, 334 m, reached by ropeway, bus or road; the city lights fill the narrow isthmus between two bays.

What should I eat in Hakodate?

Squid, often served as thin raw strips (ika sōmen), seafood rice bowls at the morning market and Hakodate's clear, salt-based shio ramen.

Is Hakodate part of a World Heritage site?

Yes. The Jōmon sites of Ōfune and Kakinoshima in the Minamikayabe area belong to the Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan, inscribed in 2021.

Sources

1.令和2年国勢調査 (opens in a new tab) — Statistics Bureau of Japan
2.函館市公式ホームページ (opens in a new tab) — 函館市
3.Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan (opens in a new tab) — UNESCO World Heritage Centre
4.Japan National Tourism Organization (opens in a new tab) — JNTO