The fortress was built in Goryokaku Hakodate to protect the southern coast of the island of Hokkaido on foreign, primarily from the Russian ships. This fortification has been preserved, but in its place was a park that, when viewed from a bird's-eye view, repeats the shape of the fort - the shape of a five-pointed star.

Pentagonal fort was built from 1857 to 1864. Takeda Naruaki supervise the construction, to study the nuances of the construction of fortifications on the books, brought from Holland. Therefore Goryokaku fortress is the first and the largest in Japan, was built on the principle of European bastion fortifications. The shape of the fortress in the form of stars allowed to fire at the enemy without "dead zones". The height of the walls is 5 meters beneath the walls was dug a moat and poured earth mound. On the southwest side it was built and Ravelin - a triangular fort in front of a ditch between the two beams of the "stars". At the fortress there were 30 buildings and an observation tower.

By strengthening gun arsenal and fortress Goryokaku Hakodate harbor has been included in the list of ports open to foreign merchant ships under the Convention of Kanagawa signed by the Japanese government and the American Commodore Matthew Perry in 1854.

Despite the presence of such a formidable bastion since 1859, the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet used the harbor of Hakodate as a winter parking and repair facilities.

In 1869, Fort Goryokaku was the site of fierce battles between the imperial troops and supporters of the Republic of Ezo. During the storm, most of the buildings of the fortress and towers were damaged.

City Park has become a fortress in 1914, in 1952 this place was included in a list of special historical monuments. Currently, the former pentagonal fort is a branch of the museum and the museum of the Hakodate-arsenal.