In 1610 Tobei Masataka Takenaka (竹中 藤兵衛正高), a shrine and temple carpenter, started a business in Nagoya.

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.

[2][3] 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.