Hundreds of Japanese manually moved a 360-ton ancient castle by two meters

In the north of Japan, about 1.8 thousand people were involved in the process of moving the tower of Hirosaki Castle in Aomori Prefecture as part of the repair work. This is reported by The Guardian portal.

The tower, a fortified donjon inside the castle, had to be moved to repair the wall damaged by a strong earthquake.

Rotating teams of 80 people worked on 30-meter ropes to move the tower closer to the original location.

"Over the past two days, we have received about 8 thousand applications for 1.8 thousand places, which is about four times the required number, so not everyone was able to participate. Not only from the city, but also from all over Japan and abroad; a lot from Southeast Asia, Europe and North America," said the head of the department of parks and green areas of the city of Hirosaki.

To preserve the historic structure, a technique known as hikiya was used, in which buildings are mounted on rollers and moved, rather than disassembled. For the first time, the city held a hikiya in 2015 to move the same object.

Hirosaki Castle is a cultural heritage site, so the hikii method was chosen to move it, which is known in Japan since ancient times.

Within two days, volunteers were able to move the tower by 2 meters. Work on manual movement will continue until the end of August, as a result, the donjon should be shifted by 5 meters.

The donjon of Hirosaki Castle is one of 12 similar structures preserved in Japan, and the only one in the northeastern Tohoku region. The castle, the residence of the Tsugaru clan, was built in 1611, but the original tower burned down after a lightning strike set fire to a gunpowder warehouse in 1627. The current building was restored in 1810, and now the castle is the centerpiece of the park, which annually attracts about 2 million visitors during the cherry blossom.

The works on the preservation of the facility, which were started in 2015, are scheduled to be completed by 2033. All this time the tower will be inaccessible to visitors: after its installation on the original foundation, restoration work will begin, and the entire structure will be covered.