People pull Japan's historic Hirosaki Castle back into place

More than a thousand people come together in rotating teams to pull Japan's historic Hirosaki Castle back to its original location after renovations.

In 2015, the 400-ton 3-story wooden castle keep was moved roughly 78 meters away from its base on rails without being dismantled. Restoration workers meticulously dismantled, documented, and repositioned 2,185 individual stones to rebuild the historic wall, completing that phase in late 2024.

To shift the structure back, organizers used a traditional Japanese architectural technique for relocating buildings intact using rails, rollers, ropes, and human muscle. Thousands of volunteers gathered in rotating teams of roughly 80 people to haul the massive structure by hand. Pulling the castle keep by hand will continue through the end of August, with about 4,100 people scheduled to move it a total of more than 5 meters.