Akamatsu Norimura, the leader of a

Akamatsu Norimura, the leader of a local powerful clan in Harima district or the southwestern Hyogo, assembled one thousand two hundred mounted warriors supporting Emperor Godaigo on Mount Himeyama and sent to Kyoto in 1333. Thirteen years later in 1346, his second son Sadanori constructed a small mountain castle on Mount Himeyama. This served as the beginning for Himeji Castle.
When Toyotomi Hideyoshi took control over all of Harima, Kuroda Yoshitaka (also known by the name of Kanbei) presented Himeji Castle as a base for the suppression of the Mori family of the Chugoku region. In 1580, Hideyoshi, rebuilt the mountain castle in 1580 with a three-story donjon over a period lasting a year to complete. However, after the battle of Sekigahara, Ikeda Terumasa, husband of Ieyasu's second daughter, became the lord of the castle. He destroyed the Himeji Castle built by Hideyoshi and began building Himeji Castle with a 5-story donjon in 1601 that took 8 years to complete. In 2001, the 400-year anniversary for the construction of the castle was celebrated along with its 70-year anniversary for being designated a national treasure.
The "Major Heisei Restoration" will be performed over a period of five and a half years beginning in the autumn of 2009. A huge temporary building with a height of 52m will be built by 2010 to be used in the replastering of the white walls and the replacement of the 73,000 roofing tiles of the main donjon (height 46 m). Visitors can take one of the 2 glass transparent elevators up to the observation deck (about 300m2) to inspect the restoration operations through a glass panel.