Kure (呉市, Kure-shi) is a city in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. As of 30 April 2023[update], the city had an estimated population of 208,024 in 106,616 households and a population density of 590 persons per km2.[1] The total area of the city is 352.80 square kilometres (136.22 sq mi). With a strong industrial and naval heritage, Kure hosts the second-oldest naval dockyard in Japan and remains an important base for the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force.
The Kure Naval District was first established in 1889, leading to the construction of the Kure Naval Arsenal and the rapid growth of steel production and shipbuilding in the city. Kure was formally incorporated on October 1, 1902. From 1889 until the end of the Pacific War, the city served as the headquarters of the Kure Naval District.
Kure dockyards recorded a number of significant engineering firsts including the launching of the first major domestically built capital ship, the battlecruiser Tsukuba (1905)[2] and the launching of the largest battleship ever built, the Yamato (1940).[3]
During the Pacific War, Kure acted as the Imperial Japanese Navy's single-largest naval base and arsenal. Most of the city's industry and workforce were employed in the service of the naval installations, munitions factories and associated support functions. In the later stages of the conflict Kure came under sustained aerial bombardment culminating in the bombing of Kure in June and July 1945.
From February 1946 until the end of Japan's postwar occupation in 1952, military establishments in Kure served at the operational headquarters for the British Commonwealth Occupation Force.
Since 2005, Kure has attracted attention as a tourism center with the Yamato Museum hosting a 1:10 scale model of the Yamato alongside a waterfront JMSDF museum of Japanese naval history.
The city continues as a major maritime center hosting both the dockyards of Japan Marine United and numerous shore-based facilities of the JMSDF including training centers and a major hospital. The city serves as the home port of an Escort Flotilla (Destroyers), a Submarine Flotilla and the Training Squadron of the JMSDF Regional Kure District.
April 1, 2016 — Kure officially became a Core city with increased local autonomy
Government
Kure has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 31 members. Kure contributes five members to the Hiroshima Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Hiroshima 5th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.
List of mayors of Kure (from 1903 to present)
Geography
Kure is located 20 kilometres (10 mi) south-east of Hiroshima city and faces the Seto Inland Sea. Surrounded by steep hillsides to the north, the two major commercial and industrial centers of the city are bisected by Mount Yasumi 497 m (1,631 ft). The city is next to the Setonaikai National Park. As well as densely populated urban and industrial centers, the city also incorporates sparsely inhabited outlying islands such as Kurahashi-jima, Shimo-kamagari, Kami-kamagari and Toyoshima.
Kure has 37 public elementary schools, 25 public junior high schools and one public high school operated by the city government, and seven public high school operated by the Hiroshima Prefectural Board of Education. There are also one private middle school and three price high schools. The prefecture also operates two special education schools for the disabled.
^"Kure city official statistics" (in Japanese). Japan.
^Evans, David (1997). Kaigun:Strategy, Tactics and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941. Annapolis, MD: First Naval Institute Press. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-87021-192-8.
^Johnson, William (2006). The Pacific Campaign in World War II: From Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-415-70175-4.
^Kure population statistics
^観測史上1~10位の値(年間を通じての値). JMA. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
^気象庁 / 平年値(年・月ごとの値). JMA. Retrieved March 3, 2022.