Hakodate

About Hakodate

Hakodate is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of January 31, 2024, the city had an estimated population of 239,813 with 138,807 households, and a population density of 354 inhabitants per square kilometre (920/sq mi). The total area is 677.86 square kilometres (261.72 sq mi). The city is the third largest in Hokkaido after Sapporo and Asahikawa.

Hakodate was Japan's first city whose port was opened to foreign trade in 1854, as a result of Convention of Kanagawa, and used to be the most important port in northern Japan. The city was the biggest city in Hokkaido before the Great Fire of Hakodate in 1934.

Hakodate (like other parts of around Hokkaido) was originally populated by the Ainu. The name "Hakodate" may have originated from an Ainu word, hak-casi ('shallow fort'). Another possibility is that it means 'box' or 'building' in Japanese which refers to the castle built by the Kono (Kano) clan in the fifteenth century.

Hakodate was founded in 1454, when Kono Kaganokami Masamichi constructed...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.