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Hakodate Motomachi Park

Hillside Oceanview

Hakodate Motomachi Park is located halfway up Hakodate Hill, and because of the high ground, you can see the scenery of the coastline of Hakodate from the park. Near Motomachi Park, there are sights such as the Old Public Hall of Hakodate Ward and the old British Consulate, and the seaside is down the road along the Motoizaka in front of the park.

Hakodate Motomachi Park 元町公園 is located halfway up Hakodate Hill, adjacent to the European Style Old Public Hall of Hakodate Ward. Because Motomachi Park is on high ground, you can Enjoy the Hakodate Coastline View from the park.

Hakodate Motomachi Park has a quiet environment, and there are many landscape sculptures among the green lawns, such as the Earth and Sea and Us, and the Four Hakodate Tycoons, who were four prominent Hakodate businessmen during the developing period of Hokkaido. Their businesses covered shipping, warehousing, garments, etc. One of them was Watanabe Kumashiro, who is the founder of today’s Red Brick Warehouses in Hakodate Port.

Statue by the Motoizaka Slope

The park is now home to historical buildings such as the Old Hakodate Branch Office Building of the Hokkaido Government, which has been transformed into a visitor center for the Motomachi area. In the mid-19th century, the Edo Shogunate established an official office, Hakodate Bugyousyo 箱館奉行所, in the present Motomachi Park area, but since it was too close to the sea for defense, it was moved to a new location, which is today’s famous Old Fort Goryokaku 五稜郭.

Old Fort Goryokaku And Goryokaku Tower

The End of Edo Shogunate

Goryokaku was built in the mid-19th century as a pentagram-shaped defense facility of the Edo Shogunate after the opening of the Hakodate port. There are 1,600 cherry trees in Goryokaku Park, and the 107-meter-high Goryokaku Tower on the south side of the park offers a panoramic view of Goryokaku.

The seaside gate of Motomachi Park faces a spacious boulevard, which is Hakodate’s famous Motoizaka Slope. The road ends at the Hakodate coast as you go down Motoizaka, passing the old British Consulate.