五稜郭

Goryōkaku is Japan's first Western-style star-shaped (bastioned) fort, completed in 1864 after seven years of construction. Designed by Takeda Ayasaburō following Dutch fortification principles, its five-pointed plan allowed overlapping fields of fire from each bastion. During the 1868–69 Boshin War it became the last stronghold of the former shogunate: Enomoto Takeaki declared the short-lived Ezo Republic here, and Shinsengumi vice-commander Hijikata Toshizō fought his final battle near the fort before dying on May 11, 1869. Hijikata's famed sword Izumi no Kami Kanesada — a blade by the Aizu-affiliated smith — was with him through Bakumatsu's bloodiest struggles. Goryōkaku stands as a poignant symbol of the last swordsmen of Japan.