The greatest feudal lord here was Ikeda Terumasa, who was a son-in-law of the shogun. He built the magnificent castle here with the financial help from the shogun and the construction took place from 1601 to 1609.
After Lord Ikeda left the castle, Lord Honda, who was the second famous lord here, was sent here. He had received Princess Sen, a grand daughter of the shogun, as his son's wife. With the transfer to Himeji, Princess Sen came along with the Honda Family in 1617. Lord Honda built West Quarter with the dowry she had brought. He also built the mansion for his son and his wife, Princess Sen there. And the whole part of the castle grounds was completed in 1618.
There were many buildings like lord's mansions and office buildings on the castle grounds but all of them were torn down. So there is none of them today. When the Meiji Period started in 1868, Himeji became a military city and the 10th infantry was stationed on the castle grounds. The army wanted to build the barracks for the soldiers.
The Edo or Tokugawa Period lasted for 264 years and it seemed very peaceful and stable. But at the end of the Tokugawa Period Japan faced two crisis. One crisis is that Japan had a very serious crop failure because of the droughts. As the economy was based on rice ,all the feudal lords as well as the Shogun had very serious financial problems. Then the government itself became weaker. The other is the arrival of the American battleships led by Commodore Perry in 1853 and 1854. They threatened Japan to open its ports to the foreign countries. The Tokugawa Government decided to open two ports with the threat from the United States. This ended up with the isolation policy and this also made young samurai angry. Many of them escaped from the lords because they had a slogan to support the emperor and expel barbarians. At last they managed to gain control and worked for the downfall of the shogunite government. In 1867 the court announced that the shogunite government should be dissolved. The Shogunite Government fought with young samurai on the imperial side near Kyoto. Then Imperial side won the battle and the Emperor moved to Edo(present Tokyo). In 1868 the Emperor was declared ruler of the country and a new government was formed.
Edo was changed to Tokyo, which was Japan's new capital city. The Meiji Period started. Meiji Period was the recovery of the emperor's power. The government proceeded to make numerous new laws. In 1869 all the feudal lords agreed to return their lands to the Emperor and the prefectural system was introduced. The government made a lot of reforms like the abolition of the caste system, an introduction of a new educational system and a postal system, etc. In addition to many reforms, the government also worked to expand industry to make a strong, rich nation and worked hard to westernize the country. The Meiji Period was the time of Japan's modernization.