Hikawa Maru

Transcriptions
	Hikawa Maru at Yamashita Park, Naka-ku, Yokohama
History
Japan
Name	Hikawa Maru
Namesake	Hikawa Shrine, Saitama
Owner	Nippon Yūsen Kabushiki Kaisha; (NYK Line);
Operator	NYK Line (1930–41; 1947–60); Imperial Japanese Navy (1941–45); SCAJAP (1945–47);
Port of registry	Yokohama
Route	Yokohama – Vancouver – Seattle
Builder	Yokohama Dock Co.
Laid down	9 November 1928
Launched	30 September 1929
Maiden voyage	13 May 1930
Out of service	21 December 1960
Identification	H-022 (with SCAJAP, 1945–47)
Status	Museum ship since 1961
General characteristics
Class and type	Hikawa Maru class
Type	Ocean liner (1929–41; 1953–60); Hospital ship (1941–45); repatriation transport (1945–46); Cargo ship (1947–53);
Tonnage	11,622 GRT
Length	163.3 m (535 ft 9 in)
Beam	20.1 m (65 ft 11 in)
Propulsion	(1930–60) Burmeister & Wain marine diesel engines, twin screws; (1960–present);
Speed	18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph)
Capacity	331 passengers:; 75 first class; 70 tourist class; 186 third class[citation needed];
Notes	sister ships:; Heian Maru; Hie Maru;
Japanese name
Kanji	氷川丸
Hiragana	ひかわまる
Romanization
Transcriptions
Romanization	Hikawa Maru

Hikawa Maru (氷川丸) is a Japanese ocean liner that Yokohama Dock Company built for Nippon Yūsen Kabushiki Kaisha ("NYK Line"). She was launched on 30 September 1929 and made her maiden voyage from Kobe to Seattle on 13 May 1930.^[1] She is permanently berthed as a museum ship at Yamashita Park, Naka-ku, Yokohama.

Hikawa Maru was one of three

Saitama in central Honshu. Her two sister ships, both lost in the Second World War, were Heian Maru and Hie Maru.^[1]

Civilian service

Hikawa Maru and her sisters ran a regular liner route between

art deco interiors, and she was nicknamed "The Queen of the Pacific".^[3] Charlie Chaplin travelled on her for part of the round the World tour that he made in 1932.^[1] On 17 December 1932, Korean independence activist Lee Bong-chang took the ship from Shanghai to Kobe, on his way to attempt to assassinate Emperor Hirohito.^[4] Kanō Jigorō, the founder of Judo and Japan's representative on the International Olympic Committee, died whilst aboard in 1938.^[5]

In 1940–41, before

Zerach Warhaftig and his family travelled east from Lithuania to Japan. They left Yokohama on Hikawa Maru on 5 June 1941 and landed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on 17 June.^[6]^[7] He described the trip as "a summer vacation and with the war seeming to be so far away" although, he said "I didn't have a peaceful mind because of the strong responsibility I had to help the Jewish refugees with the troubles they faced."^[6]^[7]

In July 1941 the US and other countries retaliating against Japan's invasion of French Indochina ordered the seizure of Japanese assets.^[8] However, the United States gave assurances that the liners would not be seized so Heian Maru and Hikawa Maru continued their regular service to US ports.^[8] In October 1941 Hikawa Maru became the last NYK ship to visit a US port before Japan and the US went to war.^[8] She brought US refugees to Seattle, and on her return voyage she repatriated 400 Japanese nationals.^[8]

Wartime hospital ship

On 1 December 1941, a week before Japan's

Yokosuka.^[1] On 15 June 1942 the Japanese cruiser Nagara brought about 500 Japanese wounded from the Battle of Midway to Hashirajima, where they were transferred to Hikawa Maru.^[1]

Three times Hikawa Maru survived being damaged by mines. The first was on 3 October 1942 while entering port at Surabaya, Java.^[1] She was repaired in port and departed on 10 October.^[1] The second was on 15 July 1944 when a magnetic mine damaged her off the Caroline Islands.^[1] She stopped in Davao in the Philippines on 19–26 July where her damage was inspected and on 1 August she reached Yokosuka for repairs.^[1] The third was on 17 February 1945 when she was leaving the Port of Singapore.^[1] Her stern struck a mine in the Singapore Strait but she returned to port and was repaired.^[1] In March and April the Mitsubishi dockyard at Yokohama made further repairs on her, and from 21 June to 4 July she was drydocked at Maizuru.^[1]

Post-war service

*Hikawa Maru* and her permanent berth at Yamashita Park, Naka-ku, Yokohama

When Japan surrendered on 15 August Hikawa Maru was one of only two Japanese large passenger ships to have survived the war. The other was another hospital ship, Osaka Shosen Kaisha's Takasago Maru.^[1] Hie Maru and Heian Maru had been converted into submarine depot ships and were attacked and sunk in 1943 and 1944.^[1]

The

Pacific Islands, Korea, the Dutch East Indies and China until August 1946, when she docked in Yokohama for repairs.^[1]

In 1947 SCAJAP returned Hikawa Maru to NYK, which despite her passenger capacity ran her mostly as a

Burma in 1949, and iron ore from Thailand.^[1] In the war NYK had lost 172 ships totalling 1.028 million Gross register tons,^[1]

which may explain why the company used an ocean liner for any cargo.

In 1953 NYK had Hikawa Maru refitted as an ocean liner and returned her to her pre-war Yokohama – Seattle route.[1] She remained on the route until NYK decommissioned her on 21 December 1960.^[1] Her peacetime service on the route 1930–1941 and 1953–1960 totalled 238 voyages and 25,000 passengers.^[1]

Preservation

In 1961 Hikawa Maru was permanently berthed at Yamashita Park, Naka-ku, Yokohama, as a floating museum, hotel and restaurant.^[1] In 2005 her owners announced that they had suffered substantial financial losses and were seeking to sell Hikawa Maru.^[1] In December 2006 her museum was closed and doubts about her future were raised.^{[citation needed]} However, NYK Line underwrote her restoration, which began in August 2007. She was renamed NYK Hikawamaru and was reopened to the public at Yamashita Park on 25 April 2008.^[1]

Important Cultural Property

On August 17, 2016, Hikawa Maru was officially designated as an Important Cultural Property by Japans Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.^[9]^[10]