Japan's Traditional Technique "Moves" Heavy Castle Tower

AOMORI, JAPAN - SEP. 3: The 400-ton symbolic tower of Hirosaki Castle, in Aomori Prefecture, at the northern tip of Japan's Honshu main island, started "moving" on Thursday September 3 by Japan's traditional civil-engineering technique to roll heavy loads by placing many "koro" logs underneath, without dismantling the structure itself. The tower is to be transferred some 70 meters to a temporary platform while the structure's stonewall foundations are renovated. The move will be completed by late October, with the tower creeping 1 to 1.5 meters a day. The tower has to be moved as the ageing castle wall on which it stands will go under the first large-scale refurbishment works in almost 100 years. The huge rocks and stones constituting the wall will be reset as they have misalignment after going through many earthquakes. The tower will be pulled back to the original position after the wall reconstruction completes as early as in 2021. The samurai-era castle was built in 1611 by the Tsugaru Clan who used to rule the western half of the prefecture and the tower was constructed in early 19th century as added part of the castle. Hirosaki Castle is known as one of the most beautiful view point of cherry blossoms in the world with about 2500 cherry trees in the compound.
AOMORI, JAPAN - SEP. 3: The 400-ton symbolic tower of Hirosaki Castle, in Aomori Prefecture, at the northern tip of Japan's Honshu main island, started "moving" on Thursday September 3 by Japan's traditional civil-engineering technique to roll heavy loads by placing many "koro" logs underneath, without dismantling the structure itself. The tower is to be transferred some 70 meters to a temporary platform while the structure's stonewall foundations are renovated. The move will be completed by late October, with the tower creeping 1 to 1.5 meters a day. The tower has to be moved as the ageing castle wall on which it stands will go under the first large-scale refurbishment works in almost 100 years. The huge rocks and stones constituting the wall will be reset as they have misalignment after going through many earthquakes. The tower will be pulled back to the original position after the wall reconstruction completes as early as in 2021. The samurai-era castle was built in 1611 by the Tsugaru Clan who used to rule the western half of the prefecture and the tower was constructed in early 19th century as added part of the castle. Hirosaki Castle is known as one of the most beautiful view point of cherry blossoms in the world with about 2500 cherry trees in the compound.
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DETAILS

Editorial #:
487123406
Collection:
Kyodo News
Date created:
03 September, 2015
Upload date:
Licence type:
Rights-ready
Release info:
Not released. More information
Clip length:
00:01:13:09
Location:
Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan
Mastered to:
QuickTime 8-bit Photo-JPEG HD 1920x1080 29.97p
Source:
Kyodo News
Object name:
15-09-03-1-2.mov