Japan Recruited 1,800 People to Pull a 396-Ton Castle Back into Place, and the Video Is Wild

In 2015, an ancient Japanese castle was moved to repair a vital stone wall. With that repair finally completed, it needed to be moved back, so Japan recruited 1,800 people to essentially play tug-of-war with a castle. According to The Guardian, the mission required volunteers to haul the 396-ton keep of Hirosaki Castle

Thousands in Japan are pulling this historic castle back into place

More than 1,000 volunteers pull Japan’s Hirosaki Castle back to its original site in Aomori after a decade of renovation work on the 400-year-old keep.

About 1,800 people came together in northern Japan to pull a 360-tonne castle keep by hand. The Hirosaki Castle keep was moved in 2015 so its earthquake-damaged stone wall could undergo repairs. Now, using hikiya, a technique that places buildings on rollers so they can be moved without dismantling them, the keep is be