About 1,800 people came together in northern Japan over the weekend to pull the 360-tonne keep of Hirosaki Castle more than two metres towards its original position as part of an ongoing restoration project.
Chanting "so-re, so-re", participants used ropes to move the historic structure in Aomori prefecture. The keep, a fortified tower within a castle, had earlier been moved to allow repairs to a wall damaged in a major earthquake, The Guardian reports.
Teams Pull Castle More Than Two Metres
Teams of 80 people took turns pulling 30-metre ropes attached to the keep, which had been placed on rails. Participants moved the structure 1.13 metres on Saturday and another 1.09 metres on Sunday.
“We had about 8,000 applications for the 1,800 slots over the last two days, roughly four times oversubscribed, so not everyone could participate,” Kensuke Hayasaka, head of the parks and green spaces division at Hirosaki City, told the Guardian. “Not only from the city, but from across Japan and overseas; a fair number from south-east Asia and from Europe and North America.”
Ancient Technique Used To Protect Historic Structure
Officials used a traditional technique known as hikiya, in which buildings are placed on rollers and relocated rather than dismantled, to preserve the historic structure.
In 2015, the city invited people to participate directly in moving the castle. It became the first citizen-driven hikiya and marked the first time in a century that the method had been used in any form to move a castle.
“Because the keep is a nationally designated important cultural property, we didn’t take it apart,” Hayasaka said. “We’re using hikiya, a building-relocation method that has existed in Japan since ancient times.”
Restoration work has continued since then. The damaged wall was completed in December 2024, with all 2,185 stones returned to their original positions. Officials this year again sought public participation to help move the keep back.
Motoharu Nakata, 61, travelled from Hiroshima to take part after participating in the exercise 11 years ago.
“I pulled it 11 years ago too. It’s very moving to be able to participate again. There’s absolutely no other opportunity to pull a castle – it was fantastic,” Nakata told the Sankei Shimbun.
4,100 People To Help Move Keep Five Metres
The manual effort will continue until the end of August, with about 4,100 people scheduled to move the keep a total of five metres. The exercise is intended as a symbolic community-building effort.
Machinery will move the structure the remaining distance of about 73 metres by the end of the year.
The Hirosaki Castle keep is one of only 12 such structures remaining in Japan and the only one in the north-eastern Tohoku region.
The castle, once the seat of the Tsugaru clan, was completed in 1611. Its original keep burned down in 1627 after lightning struck and ignited a gunpowder store. The present structure was rebuilt in 1810.
Also Watch:
Castle Expected To Reopen In 2033
Hirosaki Castle is now the centrepiece of a park that attracts about 2 million visitors each year during the cherry-blossom season. However, major renovation work means tourists will not be able to access the keep for years.
“Once it’s back on the original base, the preservation work on the keep begins and the whole structure will be covered over,” Hayasaka said. “As things stand, we expect it to reopen to visitors in 2033.”
