Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture, will start repairing the stone wall directly below the castle tower of Hirosaki Castle this fall. This is the first major renovation in about 100 years, and one of the representative photography spots of Hirosaki Castle will be lost for about 10 years. Hirosaki Park, where Hirosaki Castle is located, is famous as one of Japan's leading cherry blossom spots, which attracts more than 2 million people every year.

The repair was done because the "flame" that the stone wall swells outwards can now be seen. It was pointed out that there is a risk of collapse in the event of a major earthquake. Along with the repair, the Hirosaki Castle castle tower consisting of three layers with a height of 14.4 meters and a total weight of about 400 tons is moved as it is without being disassembled by a method called Hikiya.

The Hikiya will start in the summer of 2015 and will move about 70 meters northwest from its current location in about three months. After that, the stone wall about 100 meters east of Honmaru and about 10 meters south of Honmaru from the castle tower is repaired.

The castle tower of Hirosaki Castle was built in the Edo period and is the only existing castle tower in the Tohoku region. In 1896 (Meiji 29), the stone wall under the castle tower collapsed, causing Hirosaki Castle to be pulled to the west.

To prepare for this fall, the inner moat under the castle tower will be filled with soil. Because of the construction of temporary roads and workshops, you can only see beautiful shooting spots this season. The sight of Hirosaki Castle castle tower and cherry blossoms reflected in the water of the inner moat, and the sight of cherry blossom petals spreading on the water called a carpet of cherry blossoms will also disappear for a while after this spring.