Yamato Museum

Yamato Museum
(Kure Maritime Museum)
大和ミュージアム (呉市海事歴史科学館)
	Location within Japan Yamato Museum (Hiroshima Prefecture)
Established	23 April 2005
Location	5-20 Takara-machi, Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Coordinates	34°14′28.09″N 132°33′20.9″E / 34.2411361°N 132.555806°E
Type	Maritime museum,; Military museum,; Local history museum
Founder	Kure City
Director	Kazushige Todaka (ja)
Website	https://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
- A Kairyū-class submarine
- A Type 95 torpedo
- Various shells, shell replicas, and shell elements from IJN warships, ranging from the 460 mm (18 in) to the 203 mm (8.0 in) calibers, and of the armor-piercing, high-explosive, and anti-aircraft types.
- 1:1 replica of a 46 cm/45 Type 94 naval gun breech.
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.
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.
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.

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 (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]

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.^[5]