Takenaka Corporation (株式会社竹中工務店) is one of five major general contractors in Japan. Takenaka provides architectural, engineering, and construction services and has its headquarters located in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture. Takenaka has eight domestic offices in Japan with overseas offices in Asia, Europe, and the United States. It has remained under family control since the founding of Takenaka Corporation in 1609, and is currently led by the 17th generation of the family. The Takenaka corporation designed and built the Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum.

About Takenaka

In 1610 Tobei Masataka Takenaka (竹中 藤兵衛正高), a shrine and temple carpenter, started a business in Nagoya. The business continued as a family business and built some of the first Western-style buildings in Japan during the last half of 19th century, most of them in Nagoya. In 1899 Toemon Takenaka (竹中 藤右衛門), a 14th generation descendant of the original founder established a branch office in Kobe and founded Takenaka Corporation as an official company. The company grew during the 20th century; its capital in 1909 was about ¥100,000. This rose to ¥6 million in 1938, ¥1.5 billion in 1959 and ¥50 billion in 1979. Today, Takenaka Corporation is a multinational company with offices in 18 different countries. The current president is Masato Sasaki (since 2019). The Takenaka Corporation claims to be the oldest operating firms of its type in the world. In 2006 Takenaka acquired competing family architect-carpentry business (Miyadaiku) Kongō Gumi which had been in operation for 1,427 years. The company is now regarded in Japan as one of the "Big Five" contractors ranked alongside Kajima, Obayashi, Shimizu and Taisei. The firm has built some of the most important buildings in Japan, including the Tokyo Tower, the Tokyo Dome (the first large-scale stadium with an air-supported membrane roof in Japan), the Fukuoka Dome (Japan's first large-scale stadium with a retractable roof), and the Kobe Meriken Park Oriental Hotel among others. Among its current proposals is the Sky City 1000 project. Takenaka reconstructed the Suzakumon in Nara.

History timeline

Issues

Insufficient reinforcement

Industrial accident cover-ups

Tax evasion (non-reporting of income)

Leaky subway

Falling window

Selected projects

Public facilities

Commercial facilities

Historic buildings and religious architecture

Schools

Sports stadiums

Office buildings

Museums and theme parks

Dwellings

Plants and research laboratories

Hotels

Hospitals