Overview
- Last weekend, about 1,800 people working in rotating teams hauled ropes to move Hirosaki Castle’s timber main keep roughly 1.13 metres on Saturday and 1.09 metres on Sunday using the traditional hikiya method.
- Hikiya moves a building intact on rollers or rails so the keep need not be dismantled, a choice officials say preserves the structure’s status as an Important Cultural Property.
- The stone wall work that required the 2015 temporary shift was finished in December 2024 with all 2,185 stones returned to their original positions, clearing the way for the current return operation.
- Organizers say citizen pulls will continue through the end of August with about 4,100 people scheduled to move roughly 5 metres by hand before heavy machinery is used to complete the remaining ~73 metres later this year, with some reports targeting September–November for machine work.
- Coverage varies on the keep’s reported weight (commonly 360 tonnes but some outlets report about 396–400 tonnes), the volunteer slots were heavily oversubscribed with about 8,000 applications, and officials expect the site to remain closed to visitors until around 2033 while full restoration continues.