The Yamato Museum (大和ミュージアム) is the nickname of the Kure Maritime Museum (呉市海事歴史科学館) in Kure, Hiroshima, Japan.

History

The museum opened on April 23, 2005. It is nicknamed the Yamato Museum due to the display in the lobby of a 1/10 scale model of the battleship Yamato, the flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet in World War II. It was sunk south of the Japanese island of Kyushu in 1945. The museum is located where the battleship was completed.

Museum

Exhibition rooms

Other rooms

The museum includes an experiment work room, library, citizens' gallery, meeting rooms, and gift shop, and an observation terrace on the 4th floor where people can view the area. Temporary exhibits are also held in the 2nd floor' room.

Outside

On front of the museum are displayed a 41 cm/45 3rd Year Type naval gun, an anchor, a rudder, and a screw from the Japanese Battleship Mutsu. Behind the museum there is a brick park, a lawn plaza, and the "Yamato Wharf", a 1:1 scale silhouette of Yamato's bridge. West of the museum are located the submersible research ship Shinkai, as well as the original Kure naval arsenal' big lathe (N° 15299) which was used to craft the Yamato's 46 cm/45 Type 94 naval gun. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Kure Museum, which includes the retired JMSDF Yūshio-class submarine Akishio (SS-579), is located immediately North to the museum.

Yamato wreckage

The sunken Yamato was surveyed previously, but in May 2015, digital technology was used for the first time. The footage shows many identifiable parts of the wreckage, such as the chrysanthemum crest on the bow, one of the 5 m-diameter propellers, and a detached main gun turret. The museum plans to show the nine-minute video repeatedly in its theater.

Museum partnership

In 2015, the museum announced that it had entered into a sister museum partnership with the USS Missouri Memorial Association in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The agreement commemorates the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. The naval game franchise Kantai Collection and its parent company C2 Praparat Co., Ltd. are official partners of the museum, organizing various events with the museum and the Kure colectivity, being notably the main patreon for the lathe N° 15299's restoration.

Access

Gallery