Hakodate 函館市

• The city's account. In 1454 (享徳3年), Kōno Masamichi (河野政通), a local lord from Tsugaru, built a fortified residence (館, tate) in a fishing village called Usukeshi (宇須岸). The city glosses the name as Ainu for "the end of the bay" (湾の端). The residence was said to look like a box (hako), so it became Hako-date (箱館, "box fort"). When Ezo was renamed Hokkaido in 1869, 箱 was replaced with 函, which also means "box"⁵.
• The Ainu form. Japanese Wikipedia gives the Ainu name as Usukeshi or Ushorokeshi, glossed as "end of the inlet" or "inner end of the bay"¹.
• Competing theory. Some derive the name directly from the Ainu hak-chashi (ハクチャシ), "shallow fort"¹⁶.
• Other Ainu-derived names in the city. Esan Town's earlier name, Shirikishinai (尻岸内), comes from the Ainu Shirikishirarinai (シリキシラリナイ), "river with figures on its rock wall"; the town itself took the name of the volcano Esan in 1985²⁶. Tachimachi Cape's Ainu name Piusu (ピウス) is explained as a place where people waited on the rocks to spear fish²⁷.

Prehistory and Ainu era

• About 9,000–3,500 years ago: people lived at the Kakinoshima site (垣ノ島遺跡). Lacquered ornaments found there are about 9,000 years old and are described as the world's oldest known lacquerware. The site also yielded clay tablets bearing children's footprints and an earthen mound more than 120 m long²⁵.
• About 5,200–4,000 years ago: the Ōfune site (大船遺跡) held a large settlement with more than 100 pit dwellings, some over 2 m deep. Whale and fur-seal bones and chestnuts and walnuts were found there. It became a national historic site in 2001²⁴.
• About 3,200 years ago (Late Jomon): the hollow clay figure (中空土偶) was made. It is 41.5 cm tall and was found by a local woman in a potato field at the Chobonaino site (著保内野遺跡) in 1975⁹.

Medieval Wajin forts and the Matsumae/Edo era

• 1454: Kōno Masamichi built his fortified residence at Usukeshi, the origin of the name 箱館⁵.
• 1456–58: Koshamain's War (コシャマインの戦い). A dispute over a knife (makiri) that an Ainu man had ordered from a blacksmith at Shinori (志濃里) led to his killing. The uprising that followed took 10 of the 12 Wajin forts of southern Hokkaido, including Shinori-date (志苔館). It ended when Takeda Nobuhiro (武田信広) shot Koshamain and his son at Nanaehama²⁸.
• 1968: about 387,500 Chinese copper coins were dug up beside Shinori-date. It is one of the largest single coin hoards found in Japan²⁹.
• 1798–99: the Awaji-born shipping merchant Takadaya Kahei (高田屋嘉兵衛) made Hakodate his base and opened the sea route to Etorofu³⁰.
• 1799–1821: the shogunate took direct control of eastern Ezo (1799) and established the Hakodate magistracy (箱館奉行) in 1802. The office moved to Matsumae in 1807, and the land was returned to the Matsumae clan in 1821³¹.

Opening of the port and the Hakodate War

• 1854: a US squadron surveyed the harbor following the Convention of Kanagawa⁶. The Hakodate magistracy was re-established in the 1850s³¹.
• 1857–64: Goryokaku was built to a European design by the scholar Takeda Ayasaburō (武田斐三郎). The magistrate's office moved into it in 1864¹³³¹.
• 1859: Hakodate opened to international trade alongside Yokohama and Nagasaki¹. The Russian consulate chapel of 1860 was the forerunner of today's Orthodox church³².
• 1868–69: Hakodate War (箱館戦争). Enomoto Takeaki's former shogunate forces of about 3,000 men landed at Washinoki and occupied Goryokaku (lunar 10th month 1868). Government forces landed at Otobe on 9 April (lunar; 20 May 1869, Gregorian). Hijikata Toshizō was killed at the Ippongi barrier on 11 May (lunar). Goryokaku surrendered on 18 May (27 June 1869, Gregorian), ending the Boshin War¹⁴.

Meiji to Shōwa: port, ferries and fires

• 1869: 箱館 became 函館⁵.
• 1896: Hakodate Dock (函館船渠, today 函館どつく) was founded. Japanese Wikipedia describes it as the largest shipbuilder in Tohoku and Hokkaido (東北以北で最大)³³.
• 1907: the great fire of 25 August burned 8,977 houses and drove the poet Ishikawa Takuboku, who had arrived that May, to leave for Sapporo³⁴³⁵.
• 1908–1988: the Seikan ferry (青函連絡船) linked Hakodate and Aomori for 80 years. Ridership peaked at 4,985,695 in 1973³⁶.
• 1 August 1922: city status⁶.
• 21 March 1934: the Great Hakodate Fire. Gusts estimated at up to 39 m/s drove the fire, which killed 2,166 people and destroyed about 11,100 buildings³⁴. The Port Festival article on Japanese Wikipedia gives 2,054 deaths, so figures vary by source³⁷. The Hakodate Port Festival began in July 1935 partly as a recovery event³⁷.
• 14–15 July 1945: two Allied air raids hit the city, destroying about 400 homes, and an Aomori–Hakodate ferry was attacked⁶.
• 26 September 1954: Typhoon No. 15 sank the ferry Tōya Maru off Nanaehama with 1,155 dead or missing. About 1,430 people died across the five ferries lost that night. The disaster became a catalyst for the Seikan Tunnel³⁸.

Mergers and the modern city

• 1966 and 1973: Hakodate annexed Zenikamezawa Village and then merged with Kameda City. Kameda had held city status only since 1 November 1971 and had 66,552 residents¹⁷.
• 1980: population peaked. English Wikipedia gives 320,154 within the boundaries of the time, and Japanese Wikipedia gives 345,165, which appears to use present-day boundaries⁶¹.
• 1988: the Seikan Tunnel opened and the ferries ended³⁶.
• 1 December 2004: Toi, Esan, Todohokke and Minamikayabe were absorbed, nearly doubling the city's area. Core-city status followed in 2005¹⁶.
• 2011: the Hakodate Jomon Culture Center opened (1 October) with a Michi-no-Eki attached⁹³⁹.
• 26 March 2016: the Hokkaido Shinkansen opened to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto in neighboring Hokuto⁶.
• 2021: Ōfune and Kakinoshima were inscribed as part of the UNESCO World Heritage site "Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan"⁴⁰.

• Setting. Hakodate covers the southeastern Oshima Peninsula. The Pacific Ocean and the Tsugaru Strait surround it on the east, south and north, and it borders Hokuto, Nanae and Shikabe to the west. City hall is at about 41°46′N, 140°44′E⁵.
• Mount Hakodate (函館山, 334 m). Undersea volcanic activity formed it, and a sandbar tied it to the mainland. Japanese Wikipedia dates the connection to about 5,000 years ago, and English Wikipedia gives about 1000 BCE¹²⁶. The central city is built on this sandbar. The mountain was a military fortress zone from 1898 to 1946 and was left off public maps. That long closure helped preserve 618 plant species, some at the northern or southern edge of their range¹².
• Kameda Peninsula and Mount Esan (恵山, 618 m). The name comes from the Ainu esa-ni, "cape". Esan is a continuously monitored active volcano. Its last notable phreatic eruptions were in 1846 and 1874. It lies in Esan Prefectural Natural Park (恵山道立自然公園), and its slopes turn pink with Ezo azaleas (エゾヤマツツジ) and sarasa-dōdan (サラサドウダン)⁴¹.
• Coast. Shiokubi Cape (汐首岬) in the Toi district is the closest point between Hokkaido and Honshu, about 17.5 km from Ōma⁴². The Minamikayabe coast faces Uchiura Bay (Funka Bay) to the north⁴³.
• Rivers. The Kameda, Matsukura and Shiodomari rivers flow through the city⁶.
• Climate (JMA Hakodate station, 1991–2020 normals). Mean annual temperature is 9.4°C, with January at −2.4°C and August at 22.1°C. Annual precipitation is 1,188.0 mm, annual snowfall 306 cm, and sunshine 1,744.9 hours⁴⁴. The Tsushima Warm Current gives Hakodate milder winters and less snow than most of Hokkaido⁵.
• Extremes. The record high is 35.4°C (10 August 2023) and the record low −21.7°C (29 January 1891). The deepest snow on record is 91 cm (reached in 1977, 1985 and 2012), and the heaviest daily rain 176.0 mm (25 August 1939)⁴⁵.

• Tourism. An estimated 6.058 million tourists visited in FY2025, up 0.6% on the previous year. About 3.14 million came by car, 1.38 million by rail, 0.99 million by air and 0.54 million by sea. Foreign overnight guests numbered about 579,000, up 1.9%⁴⁶. Overnight stays rose to 5.04 million guest-nights, with an average stay of 1.37 nights⁴⁶.
• Squid's decline. The municipal fish market recorded 22,759 t of fresh and frozen Japanese flying squid (するめいか) for the June–January season in FY2005. The figure fell to 428 t in 2024 before recovering slightly to 884 t in 2025. Fresh squid alone dropped from 6,228 t to 400 t over 2005–2024, while its per-kilo price rose steeply¹⁷.
• Fishing. The 2023 Fishery Census counted 1,156 fishing enterprises, 1,862 fishery workers and 1,737 vessels in the city⁴⁷. Minamikayabe's "Shiroguchi-hama" ma-konbu (白口浜真昆布) is regarded as top-grade kelp and has been presented to the imperial household⁴³. At the time of the 2004 merger, kelp, tuna, sea urchin, octopus and flatfish were the Toi district's top five catches by value⁴². Gagome kelp (ガゴメコンブ), rich in fucoidan, has been developed into new Hakodate products such as gagome-meshi⁴⁸.
• Shipbuilding. Hakodate Dock (函館どつく) at Benten-chō builds handysize bulk carriers and has been a subsidiary of Namura Shipbuilding since 2007. Its No. 1 dry dock is a designated modernization industrial heritage site³³.
• Transport hub. Hakodate Airport handled about 1.67 million passengers in FY2023, second in Hokkaido after New Chitose⁴⁹. The port is the Hokkaido terminal for ferries to Aomori and Ōma⁵⁰.
• Demographics. Population fell from 265,979 (2015) to 251,084 (2020), and the preliminary 2025 Census count is 230,498². In August 2026, 37.8% of residents were 65 or older and only 8.1% were under 15³.

• Churches of Motomachi. The Hakodate Orthodox Church (函館ハリストス正教会) was completed in 1916 and designated an Important Cultural Property in 1983. Its bells gave it the nickname "Gangan-dera" and are listed among Japan's 100 Soundscapes³². The Motomachi Catholic Church and the Anglican St. John's Church (函館聖ヨハネ教会) stand nearby within the Motomachi–Suehirochō preservation district for traditional buildings (函館市元町末広町伝統的建造物群保存地区)¹⁵.
• Buildings and museums. The Old Public Hall of Hakodate Ward (旧函館区公会堂) was built in 1910 and is an Important Cultural Property⁵⁹. Also worth visiting are the Former British Consulate (旧イギリス領事館)⁶⁰, the Hakodate City Museum of Northern Peoples (北方民族資料館)⁶¹, the Seikan ferry museum ship Mashū Maru⁶² and the Hakodate Jomon Culture Center⁴⁰.
• Shrines and religious sites. Yukura Shrine (湯倉神社) holds the marker for the origin of the Yunokawa spring²². The Trappistine Convent (1898) was Japan's first contemplative convent for women⁵².
• Literature. Ishikawa Takuboku lived in Hakodate for part of 1907, working as a substitute teacher and newspaper reporter. The Ishikawa Takuboku family grave (1926) stands at Tachimachi Cape, and a statue stands in Takuboku Park on Ōmori Beach³⁵.

• Contact and conflict. Hakodate lies in the zone of the twelve medieval Wajin forts of southern Hokkaido (道南十二館). In 1457 the Ainu leader Koshamain's forces took 10 of the 12 Wajin forts, including Shinori-date in present-day Hakodate. The war began after a dispute at a Shinori smithy ended in the killing of an Ainu man. Shinori-date is a national historic site, designated in 1934 with the area extended in 1977²⁸²⁹.
• Place names. Usukeshi (the origin of 箱館)⁵, Piusu (Tachimachi Cape)²⁷, Esan⁴¹ and Shirikishinai²⁶ all come from Ainu.
• Hakodate City Museum of Northern Peoples (函館市北方民族資料館). It opened in November 1989 in the former Bank of Japan Hakodate branch at Suehiro-chō. It displays clothing and everyday objects of the Ainu, Uilta and other northern peoples, including the Baba and Kodama collections⁶¹.
• Living culture. A dedicated Ainu cultural center or regular public Ainu events within Hakodate could not be confirmed for this entry. For hands-on Ainu culture, Upopoy in Shiraoi is the main national facility.

• Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Sister city, 25 November 1982⁷⁸
• Vladivostok, Russia. Sister city, 28 July 1992⁷⁸
• Lake Macquarie, Australia. Sister city, 31 July 1992⁷⁸
• Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia. Sister city, 27 September 1997⁷⁸
• Tianjin, China. Friendship exchange city (友好交流都市), 18 October 2001⁷⁸
• Goyang, South Korea. Sister city, 1 August 2011⁷⁸
• Aomori City, Aomori Prefecture (domestic). "Twin City" (ツインシティ／双子都市) pact, 13 March 1989, to build a shared Aomori–Hakodate economic and cultural sphere⁷⁹

• GLAY. Rock band whose members TAKURO, TERU and JIRO are from Hakodate¹⁶
• Kazuo Ohno (大野一雄). Butoh dancer from Hakodate¹⁶
• Hideko Takamine (高峰秀子). Film actress from Hakodate¹⁶
• Yuki (YUKI). Singer from Hakodate, formerly of Judy and Mary¹⁶
• Jūran Hisao (久生十蘭). Novelist from Hakodate¹⁶
• Takadaya Kahei (高田屋嘉兵衛). Edo-period shipping merchant who built up Hakodate as a northern trading base³⁰
• Ishikawa Takuboku (石川啄木). Poet who lived in Hakodate in 1907; his family grave is at Tachimachi Cape³⁵