Historic Maizuru - Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Greetings all, I'm back with another blog post on historic Japan, another step in my mission to connect you with history, where you are.

Maizuru city in Kyoto Prefecture is one of the smaller Navy towns in Japan, with an outsized pride in their naval history. Maizuru is home to aHistoric Naval District, which was established in 1889 as one of the four distrcts of the fledgling Imperial Japanese Navy. A naval arsenal was established in 1903 around the drydock and shipbuilding facilities that had been built in 1901. The arsenal quickly expanded through the first decades of the 20th century.

The first ship constructed for the Imperial Japanese Navy at Maizuru was Oite 追手, one of the 32 Kamikaze-class torpedo boat destroyers built between 1904 and 1909. These were the first ships to be mass-produced in Japan, constructed by 8 different shipyards, both military and civilian, a remarkable achievement at the time. Maizuru Naval Arsenal built five of them. Between the construction of Oite and the end of the Second World War, 43 ships were built here, mostly destroyers and smaller vessels.

Owing to geography, Maizuru played second to Sasebo during the Russo-JapaneseWar of 1904-5. ALthough both ports are situated on Japan's west coast, Sasebo in Nagasaki Prefecture commands a more strategic location at the entrance to the Sea of Japan. Maizuru built several ships that saw action in the First World War, including the two Sakura-class destroyers Sakura and Tachibana. These two ships served overseas with the Japanese Second Fleet under the terms of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance (1902-1923).

The Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Sakura, lead in a class of two ships built in 1911-12.

When Japan's warship construction was limited by the Washington Naval Treaty, the shipyard at Maizuru closed and the Naval Arsenal was downgraded to a 'work district'.The shipyard reopened in 1936 as Japan began ramping up for conflict in China and the Pacific, and as a result Maizuru was promoted back to a Naval Arsenal. Following the end of the Pacific War, the arsenal was demilitarized under the supervsion of GHQ, then turned back over to private industry at the end of the occupation.

Maizuru today is a Naval District for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force 海上自衛隊, a key strategic position on the Sea of Japan now, as it ever was. You can tour the old naval arsenal here and get a real sense of the importance of the port and its city, perhaps more so than in some of the other Japanese Navy towns. If you are taking a trip to Kyoto Prefecture, head off the beaten path, away from the shrines, temples and castles that draw in the tourists into Kyoto City. Historic Maizuru is worth every second of your time to visit.

3rd Escort Flotilla at Maizuru Naval Base