Yamato Museum
| Location | 5-20 Takaramachi, Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan |
|---|---|
| Visited | 31 October 2013, 1 October 2026 |
| Website | Yamato Museum |
(Author's photograph, 31 October 2013)
Museum Report
The Kure Maritime Museum in Kure, is much better known as the Yamato museum, which it trades as.
The centre-piece of the museum is, of course, the model. The 1:10 scale model is extraordinarily detailed. It is 26.3m long, and represents Yamato in her final 1945 configuration. The model is mounted in a hall with raised viewing platforms allowing examination from multiple angles. My only criticism here is that there is a large window behind the model, and the lighting made it difficult for a rank-amateur photographer to get decent photographs from many of the angles.
In addition to the model there are extensive galleries containing artefacts, photographs, documents, and information boards – primarily about Yamato, but also covering the history of Kure shipbuilding, and other Japanese warships, including a photograph of every warship built at Kure. The information boards and captions were primarily in Japanese, but there were some English translations, and there are also QR codes in many places providing access to English captions.
Major artifacts at the museum include an outdoor display containing a 16-inch gun, propellor, rudder, anchor and flagpole salvaged from the battleship Mutsu which blew up and sank nearby in 1943.
There are also two museum ships here. Firstly, a Type 10 Kaiten prototype suicide midget submarine. This was a coast-defence development of the Kaiten concept rather than the better-known Type 1 based on the Type 93 torpedo.
Secondly they have a Kairyu midget submarine. This was a development of the Type A midget submarines (as used at Pearl Harbour, Sydney and other locations). They were originally armed with two torpedoes, however due to a shortage of torpedoes many units were adapted to carry a large charge of TNT in the bow. As far as I know this is the only surviving complete example of a Kairyu – however both the Etajima Naval Academy Museum, and the US Naval Submarine School in Groton, CT, have examples which have been cut open to allow examination of the interior of the boat.
The museum has a Yarrow-type boiler formerly installed in the battle cruiser Kongo on display.
A damaged Type 91 Fire Control Table that appears to have previously been fitted to a destroyer.
Sections of gun barrels previously fitted to the battleship Mikasa and the heavy cruiser Aoba.
Sections of armour plate from the battleship Mutsu.
A 3m Rangefinder
My visit first visit in 2013 (and in fact an entire trip to East Asia) was based on a media report I had seen that the museum had built a full-size replica of Yamato’s bridge as a temporary exhibit, and I went there expecting to see a copy of her forward superstructure, but in fact they had just created a replica of the inside of her navigation bridge, and that exhibit has since been removed.
In the areas around the museum there are a number of other artifacts relating to Yamato, including the large German-built lathe that was used to machine the 18-inch guns (unfortunately housed in a glass building which makes it difficult to take useable photographs of it), and replicas of both the Fire Control Top, and the Ships Bell.
The museum entry fee is 1000 yen (<$AUD10). They have a fairly extensive gift shop with a wide range of souvenirs. The book selection was disappointingly small (only 3-4 titles), however two of them were detailed technical books produced by the museum itself which I haven’t seen for sale elsewhere.
The museum is easily accessible from Hiroshima by train (an approx. 45-minute trip). It is within walking distance of the train station. It is virtually next door to the JMSDF Submarine Museum which has the post-war submarine Akishio (you can see this in the background of the photo of the Mutsu artifacts), and also next door to the ferry terminal where they run harbour cruises through the adjacent naval base, as well as being the terminus for the ferry to Etajima island.
The Yamato Museum is a great museum and well worth the excursion if you are in Hiroshima.