Kisaragi was one of twelve Mutsuki-class destroyers, built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the 1920s. Retreating after the sinking of destroyer Hayate by American coast-defense guns during the Battle of Wake Island in December 1941, Kisaragi was sunk with all hands by American aircraft. She had the distinction of being the second major Japanese warship lost during the war . She should not be confused with an earlier World War I-period Kamikaze-class destroyer with the same name.

The Mutsuki-class destroyers were a class of twelve destroyers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. All were given traditional poetic names of the months of the year by the Lunar calendar or phases of the moon. Some authors consider the Kamikaze and Mutsuki-class destroyers to be extensions of the earlier Minekaze class.