Yamato Museum

34°14′28.09″N 132°33′20.9″E / 34.2411361°N 132.555806°E / 34.2411361; 132.555806TypeMaritime museum,
Military museum,
Local history museumFounderKure CityDirectorKazushige Todaka (ja)Websitehttps://yamato-museum.com/

The Yamato Museum (大和ミュージアム, Yamato Museum) is the nickname of the Kure Maritime Museum (呉市海事歴史科学館, Kure-shi Kaiji Rekishi Kagakukan) 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,^[1] 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.^[1]

Museum

Exhibition rooms

• Yamato Hiroba – 1/10 scale of the Yamato
• History of Kure – as the shipbuilding, port city and the Kure Naval District
• Large objects exhibition room - containing a Mitsubishi A6M Zero model 62, a Kaiten human torpedo and a Kairyū-class submarine
• 1:1 replica of one of the battleship Kongō's boilers.
• Chibi Yamato replica
• Collection of suicide notes from Kaiten pilots, as well as sword, will and photographs.
• Type 93 torpedo
• 16 inch shells and shell replicas for the Mutsu and Nagato
• 18 inch shells and shell replicas for the Yamato and Musashi (and the converted Shinano)
• Shipbuilding technology, including simulator, bouncy display device and cargo ship replica bow
• The Yamato in culture, references many anime and movies in particular the "Space Battleship Yamato" series
• Yamato theatre, which shows many films related to the IJN every day.
• 1:1 scale replica of the Yamato's bridge (not on display any more)
• Future prospects

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.

Outside

Outside the museum there is a brick park, a lawn plaza, and Yamato Wharf. The Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force Kure Museum, which includes the retired JMSDF Yūshio-class submarine Akishio (SS-579) and a rudder and screw of the Japanese Battleship Mutsu is located next to the Yamato 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 (16 ft)-diameter propellers, and a detached main gun turret. The museum plans to show the nine-minute video repeatedly in its theater.^[2][3]

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.^[4]

Access

• JR Kure Station
• Kure City bus "Youmetown Yamato Museum-mae" bus stop
• Kure Port

Gallery

• 
  Statue of Poseidon in front of the Museum
• 
  Front side of the 1:10 scale model of the Yamato
• 
  Imperial Seal on the front of the Yamato scale model
• 
  Back view of the 1:10 scale model of the Yamato
• 
  Anti-aircraft guns on the 1:10 scale model of the Yamato
• 
  Stern side of the 1:10 scale model of the Yamato
• 
  Kairyū-class submarine midget submarine in exhibition hall
• 
  Ship boiler from the Battleship Kongō
• 
  Anchor from the Battleship Mutsu
• 
  Propellor from the Battleship Mutsu
• 
  41 cm/45 3rd Year Type naval gun from the Battleship Mutsu
• 
  Recreation of the Yamato’s bridge
• 
  Replica of the Yamato’s ship bell
• 
  Shells used by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II
• 
  Model of a WWII Japanese aircraft carrier

See also

• Kure Naval Arsenal
• Kure Naval District
• Yamato (film)

References

External links

• Media related to Yamato Museum at Wikimedia Commons
• Yamato Museum (homepage, in English)
• Recreated battleship bridge on display at Yamato Museum - Asahi Shimbun, July 27, 2013