HAKODATE  , a

town on the south of the island of Yezo, Japan, for many years regarded as the capital of the island until Sapporo was officially raised to that rank . Pop . (1903) 84,i46 . Ita position, as has been frequently remarked, is not unlike that of Gibraltar, as the town is built along the north-western base of a rocky promontory (1157 ft. in height) which forms the eastern boundary of a spacious bay, and is united to the mainland by a narrow sandy isthmus . The summit of the rock, called the Peak, is crowned by a fort . Hakodate is one of the ports originally opened to foreign trade . The Bay of Hakodate, an inlet of Tsugaru Strait, is completely land-locked, easy of access and spacious, with deep water almost up to the shore, and good holding-ground . The Russians formerly used Hakodate as a winter port . The staple exports are beans, pulse and peas, marine products, sulphur, furs and timber; the staple imports, comestibles (especially salted fish), kerosene and oil-cake . The town is not situated so as to profit largely by the development of the resources of Yezo, and as a port of foreign trade its out-look is indifferent . Frequent steamers connect Hakodate and Yokohama and other ports, and there is daily communication with Aomori, 56 m. distant, whence there is rail-connexion with Tokyo . Hakodate was opened to American commerce in 1854 .

In the

civil war of 1868 the town was taken by the rebel fleet, but it was recovered by the mikado in 1869 .