Entrance Hall

Welcome. Once you enter the main entrance, a bright entrance hall spreads before your eyes. You will see a cylindrical tower ticket desk covered with colorful woodblock prints in front of you.

Tower Ticket Desk

To get to the observation deck of the Goryokaku Tower, please purchase your observation ticket here. The cylindrical tower ticket desk is covered with colorful woodblock prints that symbolize the history of Goryokaku and Hakodate. The object of gentle light welcomes guests.Click here for rates and hours.

Elevator Hall and Hakodate when Goryokaku was built (1/1500)

After purchasing a ticket to the observation deck, get on the elevator to the observation deck. The elevator hall has a realistic and precise topographical model of Hakodate under glass floors. Dating back to 1864, it is six meters in diameter and was recreated based on historical resources. After watching the former appearance of Hakodate, visitors are introduced to today’s Hakodate and Goryokaku from the observation deck.

Underfloor exhibition explanation machine

Today, Hakodate spreads over a rare landform called tombolo, which the mainland and an island on the other side are connected to by a sandy isthmus. The formation of this landform is described using panels. Also, a touch screen is used to introduce the cityscape of Hakodate and surrounding areas when Goryokaku was first built in 1864 while perusing old pictures and drawings. Let’s explore Hakodate in the end of the Edo period.

1F Gift Shop

You do not have to look any further because you will find souvenirs from Goryokaku and Hakodate here. The gift shop on the first level offers an array of original items you can only find here. We also offer online shopping for original items. Take advantage of online shopping if you forget to buy something.

A model of the battleship of the Tokugawa shogunate, Kaiyo.

There is a model of the tragic battleship Kaiyo by the wall of the elevator hall. After the former Tokugawa shogunate forces led by Takeaki Enomoto occupied Goryokaku, he attempted to attack Esashi, which was the last line of defense for the Matsumae clan. Although Enomoto proceeded to the offing of Esashi by Kaiyo, his ship was stranded and sunk because of a storm.

Standing statue of Ayasaburo Takeda

The statue is located by the windows in the elevator hall.

Ayasaburo Takeda (1827-1880) learned Western studies from Kouan Ogata and Shozan Sakuma. As a scholar of Western-style military science, he was acquainted with iron making, shipbuilding, cannons, and castellation. After the opening of Hakodate Port, he served as a professor at the Hakodate School of Western Studies and Military Science. After that, he designed and supervised Benten Daiba and Goryokaku as ordered by the shogunate.

Standing statue of Takeaki Enomoto

The statue is located by the windows in the elevator hall.

Takeaki Enomoto (1836-1908) became vice admiral of the Tokugawa navy after studying in the Netherlands. After the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate, he refused to surrender the battleship to the new government and escaped. Although he built a new government in Hakodate with former shogunate retainers, he was defeated at the Battle of Hakodate and surrendered. He later held an important position in the Meiji government.