Japan enlists 1,800 people to drag a 360-tonne castle keep using ropes and rollers

After repairs to Hirosaki Castle in Aomori prefecture, officials employed a technique known as hikiya to move the structure more than two metres

To chants of “so-re, so-re”, about 1,800 people came together in northern Japan over the weekend to pull a 360-tonne castle keep a little more than two metres closer to its original resting place as part of ongoing renovations.

The keep – a fortified tower within a castle – had to be moved to repair a wall that was damaged in a major earthquake.
Rotating teams of 80 people heaved on 30-metre ropes as the keep of Hirosaki Castle in Aomori prefecture edged closer to its destination. On Saturday participants towed the building – which has been set on rails – 1.13m, while on Sunday it was shifted another 1.09m.
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“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.”

In order to preserve the historic structure, a technique known as hikiya – whereby buildings are put on rollers and moved rather than dismantled – was used. In 2015 the city put out a call for people to come and participate directly. The result was the first citizen-driven hikiya, and the first time the method has been used in any form to move a castle for a century.