Breaking News: Hundreds of volunteers physically shifted a 360-tonne castle keep to complete repairs.
A 360-tonne section of Hirosaki Castle in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, has been painstakingly moved back into its original position by over 1,800 volunteers. The displacement was necessary to facilitate repairs to a wall damaged by a previous earthquake. The keep – the castle’s central tower – was shifted over six feet using traditional methods, according to Fox News.
The operation, utilising a centuries-old technique known as hikiya, involved placing the structure on rollers and having teams of volunteers pull on ropes. This method preserves historic buildings without causing further damage. Roughly 8,000 people applied for the 1,800 available volunteer slots, demonstrating widespread public interest in the project, reports The Guardian. Participants came from across Japan and internationally, including from Southeast Asia, Europe, and North America.
Kensuke Hayasaka, head of Hirosaki City’s parks division, noted the high level of interest in contributing. The keep was originally a five-story tower destroyed by lightning in 1627 and later rebuilt as a three-story structure in 1811. Many Japanese castles suffered similar fates after the end of the Samurai era and during World War II.
The manual movement of the castle keep will continue through August, with a further 4,100 individuals scheduled to participate in shifting it a total of over 16 feet.
Sources: Fox News, The Guardian, The Independent.
