Yamato
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
1. The name of the original people of Japan, as well as an historical era in early Japanese history. It is associated with the Emperor Jimmu and his descendants. This name is also used as a mythological name for the Japanese islands in much the same way we Americans refer to the continent sometimes as "Columbia."
2. A super-heavy battleship constructed by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1941. It displaced 72,000 tons, making it the largest warship of its time. The Yamato (and its sister ship Mushashi)were armed 9 18 inch, 45 caliber guns for its main armament and were meant to be used as main battle cruisers. However, Yamato remained out of service for most of the war until it was ordered to beach itself on Okinawa to prevent the Allied landings there in April 1945. It, along with the rest of the task force assigned to it, were sunk by carrier-based aircraft.
3. A space cruiser built out of the remains of the ancient Super-Heavy battleship Yamato in 2199 after the near destruction of earth my the Gammilius Empire. The new Yamato, outfitted with an advanced wave-motion engine, traveled to Iscandar in an epic 365-day jouirney under the command of Captain Juzo Okita. The Yamato's main armament was a highly destructive wave motion cannon, as well as laser cannons made out of the remains of the original 18 inch guns. Also carried on board were a squadron of "Cosmo Zero" and "Cosmo Tiger" fighters. (ed. note: sorry, they were fresh out of "Cosmo Kramer" fighters :-P)
After traveling to Iscandar, the Yamato, now under the command of Capt. Susumu Kodai, fought against the White Comet Empire and the Bolars, both times sufferring extensive damage to the ship. The Yamato was finally destroyed when the crew was forced to self-destruct Yamato to stop the Dinguil Empire from flooding the Earth with the water planet Aquarius.
4. "Uchuu Senkan Yamato (Space Battleship Yamato)" The television and motion-picture series that described the events of number 3. The show, created by Yoshinobu Nishizaki and legendary manga artist and character designer Leiji Matsumoto (who also created Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999), ran originally from 1974-1975 with little fanfare. However, when a film of the tv show was released in 1977, fan reaction went through the roof. Yamato became one of the three classic Japanese anime sci-fi series of this time (the other two being "Gundam" [1979] and "Macross" [1982]). The original series was followed up with a movie, "Arrividerchi Yamato" in 1978 and a second season of Yamato in 1979. Following that would be a third movie, "Be Forever, Yamato," (1980) a third season in 1980, and the movie "Final Yamato" (1983), in which the ship was blown up. However, this is not the end of the series, as there have been rumors that Matsumoto, with or without Nishizaki, may work on another Yamato series. The first two seasons of Yamato were brought to America in 1979 as "Star Blazers," with character names changed and the name of the ship changed from "Yamato" to "Argo" to avoid offending WW2 veterans. The third season, here called "The Bolar Wars," was dubbed but never released on American TV.
2. A super-heavy battleship constructed by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1941. It displaced 72,000 tons, making it the largest warship of its time. The Yamato (and its sister ship Mushashi)were armed 9 18 inch, 45 caliber guns for its main armament and were meant to be used as main battle cruisers. However, Yamato remained out of service for most of the war until it was ordered to beach itself on Okinawa to prevent the Allied landings there in April 1945. It, along with the rest of the task force assigned to it, were sunk by carrier-based aircraft.
3. A space cruiser built out of the remains of the ancient Super-Heavy battleship Yamato in 2199 after the near destruction of earth my the Gammilius Empire. The new Yamato, outfitted with an advanced wave-motion engine, traveled to Iscandar in an epic 365-day jouirney under the command of Captain Juzo Okita. The Yamato's main armament was a highly destructive wave motion cannon, as well as laser cannons made out of the remains of the original 18 inch guns. Also carried on board were a squadron of "Cosmo Zero" and "Cosmo Tiger" fighters. (ed. note: sorry, they were fresh out of "Cosmo Kramer" fighters :-P)
After traveling to Iscandar, the Yamato, now under the command of Capt. Susumu Kodai, fought against the White Comet Empire and the Bolars, both times sufferring extensive damage to the ship. The Yamato was finally destroyed when the crew was forced to self-destruct Yamato to stop the Dinguil Empire from flooding the Earth with the water planet Aquarius.
4. "Uchuu Senkan Yamato (Space Battleship Yamato)" The television and motion-picture series that described the events of number 3. The show, created by Yoshinobu Nishizaki and legendary manga artist and character designer Leiji Matsumoto (who also created Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999), ran originally from 1974-1975 with little fanfare. However, when a film of the tv show was released in 1977, fan reaction went through the roof. Yamato became one of the three classic Japanese anime sci-fi series of this time (the other two being "Gundam" [1979] and "Macross" [1982]). The original series was followed up with a movie, "Arrividerchi Yamato" in 1978 and a second season of Yamato in 1979. Following that would be a third movie, "Be Forever, Yamato," (1980) a third season in 1980, and the movie "Final Yamato" (1983), in which the ship was blown up. However, this is not the end of the series, as there have been rumors that Matsumoto, with or without Nishizaki, may work on another Yamato series. The first two seasons of Yamato were brought to America in 1979 as "Star Blazers," with character names changed and the name of the ship changed from "Yamato" to "Argo" to avoid offending WW2 veterans. The third season, here called "The Bolar Wars," was dubbed but never released on American TV.
