Nearly 1,800 volunteers used ropes and rollers to manually pull a 360-tonne historic castle keep in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, over two meters across a single August weekend. The labor-intensive preservation effort returns the tower to its original foundation following extensive stone wall repairs.
An ancient Japanese architectural technique brought crowds of enthusiastic volunteers to northern Japan on August 26, 2026, where participants joined forces to manually haul the massive wooden keep of Hirosaki Castle back toward its original foundation. Rather than deploying heavy machinery for the initial stage of the journey, organizers relied on coordinated human muscle and an age-old method known as hikiya.
Rotating teams of roughly 80 people took turns heaving on 30-meter ropes secured to the fortified tower, towing the structure 1.13 meters on Saturday and an additional 1.09 meters on Sunday. The deliberate pace is designed to protect the integrity of the aging structure while completing a crucial phase of a multi-year preservation project.
Why Hirosaki Castle Had to Move
The current relocation effort follows years of meticulous engineering work that began in 2015. Engineers originally shifted the keep away from its stone base so workers could repair structural damage sustained during a major earthquake. With the fortification walls finally rebuilt and all 2,185 individual stones returned to their precise historical positions in December 2024, the city initiated the second phase of the hikiya process to draw the tower home.
Preservationists opted against dismantling the structure because the keep holds special legal and historical status. Officials used hikiya, a traditional Japanese technique in which buildings are placed on rails or rollers, to move the entire tower intact without taking it apart.
Global Demand for Citizen-Led Restoration
The opportunity to participate in the manual pull drew intense international interest. City administrators received roughly 8,000 applications for just 1,800 weekend slots, making the event heavily oversubscribed and leaving thousands of prospective volunteers unable to join.
Participants travelled from far beyond Aomori Prefecture to join the ropes.
The opening ceremony drew notable dignitaries, including Princess Kazuko of Hitachi and Shin Tsugaru, the 15th head of the samurai family that ruled the Aomori region during the Edo period. For returning participants, the physical labor carried deep personal resonance.
I pulled it 11 years ago (from the original place for repairs).
Mei Umetsu, participant
Centuries of History in Northern Japan
Built originally in 1611 by the Tsugaru clan, Hirosaki Castle stands as a rare survivor of Japan’s feudal era. While a lightning strike destroyed the original five-story keep in 1627, the current three-story structure was rebuilt in 1811. It remains the only original castle keep still standing in the northeastern Tohoku region, earning designation as one of Japan’s 100 Fine Castles
by the Japan Castle Foundation.
Most historic Japanese fortresses were dismantled following the end of samurai rule in 1868 or were destroyed during the Second World War. Today, Hirosaki Park serves as a major tourist draw, attracting large numbers of visitors each year during the spring cherry blossom season.
What Happens Next in the Relocation
The manual hauling effort is scheduled to continue through the end of August. Organizers expect about 4,100 volunteers in total to pull the keep across a span of roughly 5 meters by hand.
Once the citizen-led phase concludes, heavy machinery will take over to complete the remaining 73-meter journey back to the tower’s historical footprint by the end of 2026. Following the move, internal restoration and site work will keep the structure closed to the public until 2033.
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