1,800 volunteers pull 400-ton Japanese castle after decade-long restoration
In a massive community effort, 1,800 volunteers in Japan used traditional engineering methods to move a 400-tonne castle keep as part of a decade-long restoration. The project was necessary to repair the castle's stone foundation, which had been damaged by years of seismic activity.
Why it matters
The project highlights the intersection of cultural heritage preservation and traditional engineering techniques in modern disaster-prone regions.
A group of 1,800 volunteers gathered in northern Japan to pull a 400-tonne historic castle keep across the ground using heavy ropes, marking a major step in a decade-long restoration project. The mass effort in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, saw participants take turns pulling the three-storey timber tower back towards the stone foundation wall from which it had been moved in 2015. According to Smithsonian Magazine, organisers received about 8,000 applications for the 1,800 volunteer places, making the event four times oversubscribed. The move used a traditional Japanese engineering method known as hikiya. The technique allows entire historic buildings to be moved without taking them apart, using rollers or rails placed underneath.
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