1,800 People Use Ropes to Relocate a Castle by Hand

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A 396-ton castle damaged in an earthquake has been dragged by ropes, rollers and 1,800 willing volunteers. The enormous team effort used a technique known as hikiya to move Hirosaki Castle in Japan’s Aomori prefecture more than six-and-a-half feet so that vital repairs could be completed to a damaged wall. “We had about 8,000 applications for the 1,800 slots over the last two days, roughly four times oversubscribed, so not everyone could participate,” Hirosaki City’s parks boss Kensuke Hayasaka told the Guardian. “Not only from the city, but from across Japan and overseas; a fair number from south-east Asia and from Europe and North America.” Volunteers shouted “so-re, so-re” as they heaved the huge keep over Saturday and Sunday, in what is the latest stage of work that has been ongoing since 2015. Last weekend’s work saw the castle returned to its original position after volunteers first pulled it 11 years ago to begin work on the damaged wall. “Because the keep is a nationally designated important cultural property, we didn’t take it apart,” Hayasaka said. “We’re using hikiya, a building-relocation method that has existed in Japan since ancient times.”