Scale: 1:48. The two ships of this class, and the two somewhat similar ships that immediately preceded them, might be considered as fast battleships rather than cruisers, since they were much slower than contemporary armoured cruisers in other fleets and – apart from the new breed of British battle-cruisers – far more heavily armed. The ‘Kurama’ (1907) was built at Yokosuka and was one of the last of the Japanese warships to have reciprocating engines; though her sister, ‘Ibuki’, had turbines. She served in the First World War and was broken up in 1923.

The model, resplendent in its ornate black lacquered case with gold embellishments, was one of a gift of six models of the Japanese Government to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, in 1910. The Royal Naval College Museum catalogue, 1913, records their presentation ‘as a token of their sincere gratitude for the kindness and courtesy which Japanese Constructors and Engineers have experienced at the hands of the authorities of the Royal Naval College on the occasion of their studies there’. Admiral Togo had trained there as a naval officer, and had returned to attend the Royal Naval Coronation Fleet Review held in 1911.

This particular model is huge and immensely heavy. It is stunning though, with its chrysanthemum decoration on the bow, denoting it as a ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Its sheer size seems to overwhelm the onlooker and its funereal case is as much a museum piece as the model itself. The case was restored in the 1980s and treatment included the application of around a hundred coats of lacquer and the gold-plating of its metal fittings.