Around 1,800 people have pulled the keep of the historic Hirosaki Castle two metres closer to its original location in Japan's Aomori prefecture, following restoration works.

Using an ancient Japanese building relocation technique known as hikiya, the 360-tonne structure was placed fully intact on rollers and pulled by volunteers.

A tower of Hirosaki Castle was pulled two metres on rollers by volunteers

The hand-pulled relocation brought the castle keep, originally built in 1810, just over two metres closer to the 17th-century Hirosaki Castle complex.

The three-storey structure was moved from its original location in 2015 to undergo repairs to an earthquake-damaged stone wall, which was fully restored in December 2024.

 

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The tower keep is journeying back to its original location following restoration works

According to the Guardian, around 1,800 people took part in moving the castle keep last weekend, tugging 30-metre-long ropes in rotating groups of 80 people.

The voluntary hand-pulled journey will continue for the rest of the month, with approximately 4,100 people expected to move the tower a total of five metres.

Read: Swedish city of Kiruna wheels entire 672-tonne-church intact to new location

The remaining 73 metres the tower needs to travel will be carried out by machinery, bringing the structure to its final resting place before the end of the year.

Hirosaki city first announced a call for volunteers to take part in the hikiya process in 2015 when the tower was being relocated for repairs, allowing the historic structure to be moved without dismantling it.

It was originally built in 1810

Last year, the Swedish city of Kiruna wheeled a 672-tonne church in its entirety to a new location to accommodate the expansion of the world's largest underground iron-ore mine.

Other historic restoration projects that have featured on Dezeen include an upgrade to the 13th-century Clifford's Tower in England and the revitalised 17th-century Ottoman Seddülbahir Fortress in Turkey, which features timber elements that outline how its stone ruins would have looked.

The photos are courtesy of Hirosaki City.

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