Former Kure Naval District Headquarters (JMSDF Kure Regional Command)

The Kure Naval District (呉鎮守府, Kure Chinjufu) was established on July 1, 1889, as the second of the Imperial Japanese Navy's four major naval districts, with its formal opening ceremony held on April 21, 1890, in the presence of Emperor Meiji. The district was designated to command the Second Naval District (第二海軍区), encompassing the strategically vital Seto Inland Sea (瀬戸内海) and the Pacific coasts of southern Honshu from Wakayama to Yamaguchi prefectures, eastern and northern Kyushu, and all of Shikoku — effectively the maritime heart of the Japanese home islands.

The establishment of the Kure Naval District was part of the Meiji government's comprehensive naval modernization program. In 1886, the Navy Ordinance (海軍条例) divided the nation into five naval districts, each to be administered by a Chinjufu (鎮守府, literally 'pacification garrison'). The Chinjufu was far more than a fleet anchorage — it was a comprehensive administrative, logistical, and industrial headquarters responsible for all naval operations, shipbuilding, armaments production, personnel training, medical services, communications, and judicial functions within its jurisdiction. Under the Chinjufu Regulations (鎮守府官制), the organization included a Staff Department (参謀部), Medical Department (軍医部), Accounting Department (主計部), Shipbuilding Department (造船部), Ordnance Department (兵器部), Construction Department (建築部), Naval Court-Martial (軍法会議), and Prison Office (監獄署).

The first Commander-in-Chief (鎮守府司令長官) was Vice Admiral Nakamuta Kuranosuke (中牟田倉之助中将), appointed in 1889. The position of Commander-in-Chief was one of the most prestigious in the Imperial Navy, held by admirals who often went on to serve as Navy Minister, Chief of the Naval General Staff, or Combined Fleet Commander. During the Pacific War, the Kure Naval District Commander-in-Chief also served as commander of naval defense for the entire Seto Inland Sea region.

The original headquarters building (初代庁舎), a two-story brick structure completed in 1889, suffered severe damage during the Geiyo Earthquake (芸予地震) of June 2, 1905, which collapsed its upper floor. The building was temporarily reduced to a single story while a replacement was constructed on an adjacent site. The current headquarters building — the Second-Generation Headquarters (二代目庁舎) — was completed in 1907 (Meiji 40). Designed possibly under the direction of Sakurai Kotaro, the architectural chief of the Kure Naval District at the time, this is a two-story structure with one basement level, encompassing approximately 1,990 square meters of floor space. Its architectural style is Western (近代洋風建築) with English-bond brickwork (イギリス積み), granite (御影石) accents framing the entrance, Ionic-capital columns on the second floor supporting a pediment, and a central dome crowning the composition. A notable feature is that the land-side and sea-side facades are identical, reflecting the dual access expected of a naval headquarters — senior officers would arrive by horse-drawn carriage from the land side or by naval launch from the harbor side.

Throughout the early 20th century, the Kure Naval District expanded dramatically to become the Imperial Navy's most important industrial complex. The Kure Naval Arsenal (呉海軍工廠), established in 1903 by consolidating earlier facilities, grew into the largest and most technically advanced shipyard in Japan, eventually constructing the 72,000-ton battleship Yamato — the largest warship ever built — launched in secrecy on August 8, 1940. The district's facilities grew to include torpedo production factories, naval mine workshops, artillery and ammunition plants, a major naval hospital, a submarine base and submarine warfare training school (established 1920), an air wing (established 1931), and a telecommunications center (established 1937). The administrative headquarters coordinated all of these vast operations.

During World War II, the Kure Naval District served as the Combined Fleet's primary logistics and repair hub. The harbor at Hashirajima (柱島) in the Seto Inland Sea, within Kure's jurisdiction, was the Combined Fleet's main anchorage, where the fleet flagship lay at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941; the carrier strike force itself sailed from Hitokappu Bay in the Kuril Islands. As the war progressed, Kure became increasingly vital for warship repair and the desperate final construction programs. The administrative headquarters coordinated the mobilization of civilian labor, the dispersal of production facilities into tunnels and caves as American air attacks intensified, and the organization of homeland defense preparations.

In the war's final months, Kure was subjected to devastating American air attacks. On July 1-2, 1945, approximately 150 B-29 Superfortresses from the Mariana Islands conducted an incendiary bombing raid on the city, reducing most of urban Kure to ashes and killing over 2,000 civilians. Then on July 24, 25, and 28, 1945, carrier-based aircraft of the US Third Fleet launched massive strikes against the naval base itself, sinking or heavily damaging virtually every remaining major warship at anchor — including the aircraft carrier Amagi, battleship-carriers Ise and Hyuga, heavy cruiser Tone, and light cruiser Oyodo. The headquarters building was burned in the 1945 air raids, with its interior completely gutted, leaving only the brick-and-granite exterior shell standing.

Following Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945, the Kure Naval District was formally abolished. British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) troops — primarily Australian and British forces — occupied the Kure area from February 1946. The Commander-in-Chief's official residence (入船山記念館, now Irifuneyama Memorial Museum) and other naval facilities served as BCOF headquarters until 1955–56 (sources differ on the year). During the occupation, the naval base was largely demilitarized, with warships scrapped, arsenal equipment dismantled, and facilities repurposed.

On July 1, 1954, with the establishment of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), the Kure Regional Force (呉地方隊) was created, and the former Chinjufu headquarters building — repaired and used by BCOF until the mid-1950s — became the JMSDF Kure Regional Command (呉地方総監部) First Administration Building (第一庁舎). The dome that had been lost during the air raids was carefully restored, and the building continues to serve its naval administrative function to this day — making it one of the longest continuously used naval headquarters buildings in Japan, spanning from the Imperial Navy through the postwar JMSDF era.

The headquarters complex retains several additional historic structures. Three red-brick warehouses (赤レンガ倉庫群) within the base perimeter, confirmed through academic research to have been built around 1900, bear cracks from the 1905 Geiyo Earthquake and represent some of the oldest surviving naval warehouse buildings in Japan. Underground tunnel shelters (鎮守府地下施設群), excavated during the war as air-raid protection, also survive within the grounds.

In 2016, the Kure Naval District headquarters, its brick buildings, and underground facilities were collectively designated as constituent cultural properties of Japan Heritage Story #035: 'Guardports — Yokosuka, Kure, Sasebo, Maizuru: Cities Where You Can Experience the Dynamism of Japan's Modernization' (鎮守府 横須賀・呉・佐世保・舞鶴〜日本近代化の躍動を体感できるまち〜). The site is open for limited public viewing on Sundays by advance reservation through the JMSDF Public Affairs Division. Together with the nearby Yamato Museum, JMSDF Kure Museum (Iron Whale Museum), Irifuneyama Memorial Museum, and the Kure Naval Cemetery, the headquarters forms the core of Kure's comprehensive naval heritage corridor.