There’s no other place quite like Hakodate in Japan. A truly historic international city on the northern island of Hokkaido, it has a French star-shaped fortress, old British and Russian churches and consulates and at turns is reminiscent of San Francisco with its turn-of-the-century hillside homes and the American Midwest.

And what better mascot to represent such a place than a cool yet cute cartoony Victorian gentlemen waving around a katana?

One of Hakodate’s most popular mascot characters is Hijikata-kun and he’s based on a real life samurai, Hijikata Toshizo. Though he may seem to be one of Hakodate’s favorite sons his story did not begin there but rather its where it ended during one of the most tumultuous and important times of Japanese history, the bakumatsu or end of the Edo period.

Hijikata Toshizo was born 1835 in Ishida Village, now part of Tokyo’s Hino City. A peasant by birth, he resolved in his teens to become a samurai. It’s the kind of chunibyo thing you expect from a middle-schooler with delusions of grandeur- in Japan’s rigid caste system a peasant was always a peasant and one could not class up through merit.

Hijikata Toshizo 1869 (Japan National Diet Library)

He accomplished the impossible dream as a member of the Shinsengumi, a special police force that drew its members from all classes to defend Kyoto against men we’d deem domestic terrorists today- master-less samurai, ronin, who assassinated and committed acts of revolutionary violence at will and calling it ‘divine judgment.’ Before becoming a corpsman Hijikata was known to friends and family for his gentle nature and good looks, but sword unsheathed he would be known throughout Japan as the Demon Vice Commander and one of the nation’s deadliest swordsmen.

In recognition for their service and skill Hijikata and the other corpsmen became hashimoto, upper-class samurai in personal service to the shogun himself.

This achievement would come shortly before the victory of the imperial revolutionaries and the defeat of the Shogunate. Though the Shogun himself stepped down, his armies and their lords refused to surrender and continued to fight in what became the Boshin War (1868-69). Hijikata and the Shinsengumi fought in these losing battles as the diehard pro-Shogunate forces were driven northward to Ezo (now Hokkaido).

They captured Hakodate, the island’s international frontier city, and these followers of a deposed hereditary military dictatorship, with the support of French advisors, would declare an American-style republic, the Republic of Ezo. The peasant-turned-samurai Hijikata was appointed vice commissioner of its army.

When Imperial forces landed in April 1869 Hijikata personally led troops in opposing their advance on Hakodate, successfully executing raids and winning small-scale battles in what he realized was ultimately an unwinnable war.

He called his page into his quarters at the republic’s military headquarters, Goryokaku, May 5.* He handed him two swords, a lock of hair, his photograph and death poem with orders that he set out at once and deliver it to his family in Hino.

Imperial forces surrounded Hakodate and six days later entered the city, splitting the republic’s forces located at Goryokaku in the north and the seaside Benten-Misaki Daiba, where the last Shinsengumi members fought, in the south. Hijikata mounted his horse and rode out, leading troops to the Benten-Misaki Daiba. He didn’t make it two miles before he was intercepted and shot to death at the Ipponki Kanmon gate.

The republic fell a few days later on May 17, fully ending the Edo era in one of the strangest ways possible.

In an era of big personalities, Hijikata stands out and I love his story; a man taking advantage of a chaotic time to achieve an impossible goal and doing so in a way that reads like epic fiction. Today there are a few places in Hakodate for visitors to see where this story played out and pay their respects to one of the bakumatsu’s most famous, or infamous, samurai.

Goryokaku

Remote Hakodate was one of the first treaty ports and as soon as the doors were open the Shogunate set about fortifying it with two forts, Benten-Misaki Daiba and Goryokaku. Inland and out of range of naval gunfire, shaped like a five-pointed star and surrounded by a moat, the French-style fort of Goryokaku was formidable and the perfect citadel for the Ezo Republic’s leadership to prosecute their war from.

The cannons are gone but its unique combination of European earthworks and castle-like Japanese stonework walls are the setting for colorful flowers and green trees, the battleground now a garden park perfect for family picnics and romantic strolls. To be fully appreciated it would have to be visited in all four seasons, and the best view is from Goryokaku Tower, the only place to take in the whole park and its shape.

The 98-meter high tower plays up the fort’s association with Hijikata with their mascot character, Hijikata-kun, and statues of the real samurai are on the first floor and on the observation deck. The first floor Hijikata stands tall, larger than life and is surrounded by bamboo from his family home in Hino, the second is sitting, a recreation of his famous photograph. The legs have been worn shiny from visitors touching them; its as close as you can get to touching a legend. Hijikata takes center stage in the retelling of Goryokaku’s story as well here, as model miniatures play out scenes from the fort’s history and Hijikata’s role emphasized in several of them.

It has two souvenir shops with lots of Hijikata-related gifts, one on each floor and both have unique items so if you want something on the observation deck you can’t go back down and expect it in the other gift shop.

No original buildings remain in Goryokaku, but the magistrate’s office, which was used by the Ezo Republic government as well, was rebuilt in 2010 using traditional construction methods and it too contains a small museum.

If you need more Hijikata in your visit try coming around the time of Goryokaku Festival in May, which has a parade of costumed bakumatsu troops that act out scenes from the battle and a Hijikata impersonator contest.

Boshin War Ezo Republic performers at the Magistrate’s Office; Hijikata is in the center

Hijikata Toshizo Deathplace Monument

A humble stone monument next to the rebuilt Ipponki Kanmon marks where Hijikata fell and is the focal point of a small tranquil garden. The monument was covered in fresh-cut flowers when I visited. (Looking it up online, it seems to be perpetually covered in flowers.) Incense and lighters are also on the grave for anyone that wishes to pray as well. A few elderly people also stopped by the stone at the time, looking like they’d come to pay their respects.

Hijikata and Shinsengumi Memorial at Shomyoji Temple

After the battle ended the dead were collected, cremated and buried in mass graves in a few different locations. Because of this no one knows which one Hijikata’s remains were sent to, so Shomyoji Temple erected a gravestone for him. They later added the names of several Shinsengumi members who fell in the Battle of Hakodate as well.

This monument just beside the temple’s main hall and has a small hutch beside it with Hijikata’s photo, memorabilia and a guest book for visitors.

Benten-Misaki Fort (Benten Daiba) Marker

Nothing is left of Benten-Misaki Daiba, Hijikata’s destination where the Shinsengumi made their stand. There is a sign and marker in a park beside Hakodate Dock-Mae tram station. Another pole marker is close by at the entrance of the Hakodate dockyard.

Hizikata Takuboku Museum

This is a weird one, a museum dedicated to Hijikata and poet Ishikawa Takuboku who briefly lived in Hakodate. I’d write this off as a tourist trap except it has an impressive collection of swords, firearms and other Edo-era ways for people to kill each other. It’s worth a visit just for the collection, which also includes a set of Shinsengumi chainmail armor. The museum is entirely in Japanese without English translation.

ADDRESSES

Goryokaku
44 Goryokakucho, Hakodate, Hokkaido 040-0001
http://www.goryokaku-tower.co.jp/en/

Hijikata Toshizo Deathplace Monument

33−6 Wakamatsuchō, Hakodate, Hokkaido 040-0063

Shomyoji Temple

18-14 Funamichō, Hakodate, Hokkaido 040-0055

Benten-Misaki Fort (Benten Daiba) Marker

6 Irifunechō, Hakodate, Hokkaido 040-0057

Hizikata Takuboku Museum

25-4 Hinodechō, Hakodate, Hokkaido 040-0022

*Dates here use the Chinese calendar; you’ll sometimes see these events happening in June in other places. I’m following the chronology used at Goryokaku itself and in Shinsengumi by Romulus Hillsborough. Shinsengumi was a reliable source of information for Hijikata’s life.