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

A Weekend of Collective Effort

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 meters closer to its original resting place. The event took place in Aomori prefecture, where the keep of Hirosaki Castle has been set on rails for the move. Rotating teams of 80 people heaved on 30-metre ropes, moving the building 1.13 meters on Saturday and a further 1.09 meters on Sunday.

The keep – a fortified tower within a castle – had to be moved to repair a wall damaged in a major earthquake. The effort is part of ongoing renovations that have been underway since 2015, according to multiple reports.

The pull drew far more interest than organizers could accommodate. Kensuke Hayasaka, head of the parks and green spaces division at Hirosaki City, told the Guardian: "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." He added that interest came not only from the city but from across Japan and overseas, including a fair number from south-east Asia, Europe, and North America.

A Traditional Technique

The keep was moved using a method known as hikiya, in which buildings are placed on rollers and moved rather than dismantled. This approach was chosen because the keep is a nationally designated important cultural property, as Hayasaka explained: "Because the keep is a nationally designated important cultural property, we didn't take it apart. We're using hikiya, a building-relocation method that has existed in Japan since ancient times."

The Guardian reported that after a public call-out by the city in 2015, this effort became the first citizen-driven hikiya in a century, and the first time the method has been used in any form to move a castle in a century. One report noted that hikiya has been used in Japan for at least 400 years and is most common in road-widening projects.

For some participants, the event was a rare, repeat opportunity. Motoharu Nakata, 61, travelled from Hiroshima to take part. According to the Sankei Shimbun, he said: "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."

The Castle's History and Ongoing Work

Hirosaki Castle was completed in 1611 by the Tsugaru samurai family. The original keep burned down in 1627 after a lightning strike ignited a gunpowder store; the current structure was rebuilt in 1810. The keep is one of only 12 such structures left in Japan and the only one in the Tohoku region, according to the Guardian.

The recent move is part of a preservation project that began after the 2015 earthquake. In 2015, the keep was moved to a temporary platform 78 meters away from the national historic site, as reported by The Gateway Pundit, citing The Japan News. Work to move it back began in June after repairs to the stone walls were finished, with the effort scheduled to wind up in November, according to the same report.

The wall itself was completed in December 2024, with all 2,185 stones restacked in their original positions, the Guardian reported.

The hand-pulling of the keep will continue until the end of August, with about 4,100 people scheduled to move it a total of 5 meters. The rest of the journey, about 73 meters, will be done using machinery by the end of the year, as reported by the Guardian. One report described the project continuing with around 4,100 people pulling the castle a total of 16 feet over the next week.

Looking Ahead

The keep will not be accessible to visitors for years. Hayasaka told the Guardian: "Once it's back on the original base, the preservation work on the keep begins and the whole structure will be covered over. As things stand, we expect it to reopen to visitors in 2033."

The castle is the centrepiece of a park that draws about 2 million visitors each year during cherry-blossom season, according to the Guardian. One report described Hirosaki city as being at the foot of Mount Iwaki and one of Japan's top spots for seeing cherry blossoms. For those who took part this weekend, the chance to pull a castle by hand may well have been worth the wait.