Hirosaki Castle restoration event features manual pulling of 400-ton keep

Hirosaki City is hosting the “Hippare! Keppare! Hirosaki-jo” event at Hirosaki Park from August 21 to 28 to celebrate the restoration work of the Hirosaki Castle keep.

The event features a unique experience where approximately 4,100 participants from inside and outside the city will use manual labor to pull the roughly 400-ton castle keep, moving it about 5 meters. This is only the second time such an experience has been offered since 2015, and it is a rare occurrence for one of Japan's 12 existing original castle keeps.

The opening ceremony included projection mapping, light-ups, drone shows, and fireworks. Additional activities scheduled for the weekend include a castle keep pulling experience, a water park, and a national tug-of-war competition.