Around 1,800 People Pull Hirosaki Castle
Around 1,800 people grabbed ropes and hauled the centuries-old keep of Japan’s Hirosaki Castle more than two metres towards its historic home over the weekend.
Footage filmed over the weekend shows teams heaving on thick ropes in unison as drums beat, inching the keep along rails beneath it. Timelapse footage also shows the structure being lifted and moved using hydraulic systems.
Working in groups of around 80 and chanting ‘so-re, so-re’, participants pulled the castle, weighing around 360 tonnes, 1.13 metres on Saturday and another 1.09 metres on Sunday.
Traditional Technique Used To Move The Castle
The operation uses hikiya, a traditional Japanese technique that allows entire buildings to be moved without dismantling them.
Hirosaki City said the method was chosen because the keep is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property.
Demand to take part was huge, with around 8,000 people applying for just 1,800 places over the weekend. Participants travelled from across Japan and overseas.
The keep was moved from its stone base in 2015 so the wall beneath it could be repaired. All 2,185 stones were later returned to their original positions, with the rebuilding completed in December 2024.
Castle’s Long Journey Back Home
Around 4,100 people are scheduled to help pull the keep a total of five metres by hand by the end of August. Machinery will move most of the remaining 73 metres, with the return scheduled for completion by the end of 2026.
Hirosaki Castle was completed in 1611, although its original keep was later destroyed by fire. The current three-storey keep dates from 1810 and is one of only 12 original castle keeps still standing in Japan.
Article by Viory:
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