Hakodate

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During the period 23–27 October 2023, I visited Hakodate in Hokkaido to photograph locations associated with the Boshin War and Ezo Republic. The Boshin War (January 1868 to June 1869) was a civil war fought between an alliance led by the Meiji emperor and the various clans allied to the Tokugawa Shogunate. The Tokugawa forces were also supported by members of the Shinsengumi (a police force created by the shogun in 1863) and the Denshutai (a small but Westernized military corps).

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In Hakodate, Enomoto Takeaki and Jules Brunet (leader of the loyal French military advisors) organized a new government and army for the Ezo Republic (the ancient name for Hokkaido). Takeaki was named President and Brunet became deputy to Otore Keisuke who led the remaining Shogunate troops. There were also the remnants of the Shinsengumi under Hijikata Toshizo, guerrillas under Hitomi Katsutaro and 2000 sailors on the surviving ships of the Shogunate navy. These forces were based in the star-fort of Goryōkaku and the fortress of Benten Daiba.

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Goryōkaku was designed in 1855 by Takeda Ayasaburō and was based on design of the master French fortress architect Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban. The fortress was completed in 1866 and is shaped like a five-pointed star. This allowed for greater numbers of gun to be emplaced on its walls and reduced the number of blind spots for cannon fire. The fortress of Benten Daiba, defended by the Shinsengumi, was also designed by Takeda Ayasaburō and was built on the site of a shrine to Benten.

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On 20 March 1869 an Imperial naval force sailed into the harbour of Miyako near Hakodate and engaged the ships of the Ezo navy. They defeated the Ezo ships, causing one of them, the Takao, to beach and be scuttled. This freed the way for transport ships to land around 7000 Imperial troops near Hakodate to commence the final operations to defeat the Republic’s forces. Brunet and the other French advisors escaped on a French warship in June while heavy fighting raged around the fortresses of Goryōkaku and Benten Daiba. Fighting ended on 27 June 1869 with the fall of Goryōkaku and the surrender of Enomoto Takeaki after having lost half his men. Hijikata Toshizo, leader of the Shinsengumi forces, died in the fighting near Benten Daiba.

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There were two shrines of particular interest in Hakodate, one being the Kameda Hachimangu shrine and the other the Funadama shrine. The Kameda Hachimangu shrine dates to 1390 when it was dedicated to the spirit of Hachiman Okami. This shrine was the site of the final surrender of the Ezo Republic forces on 27 June 1869. The present shrine, built in 1964, stands next to the former shrine that was renovated in 1863 making it one of the oldest buildings in Hakodate. The building does have some bullet holes from the fighting in 1869. The Funadama Shrine is said to have been built in 1135 by Ryonin (a patriarch of Yuzu Nenbutsu Buddhism) as Kannon- do but was dedicated to Funadama Deity at the end of the Edo Period. A legend associated with the shrine is that Minamoto Yoshitsune was by the grace of Funadama Deity when he was in danger of being shipwrecked on his way from Tsugaru in Aomori Prefecture.

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