Kimura Kaishū , also known as Kimura Yoshitake (木村喜毅), was a Japanese admiral known for being the commander of the Japanese Embassy to the United States in 1860, Japan's first foreign embassy mission after the end of sakoku, sailing aboard the Kanrin Maru. He was also the governor of Settsu Province, which covered parts of modern-day Osaka prefecture and Hyogo prefecture.

Kanrin Maru (咸臨丸, Unyielding) was Japan's first sail and screw-driven steam corvette. She was ordered in 1853 from the Netherlands, the only Western country with which Japan had diplomatic relations throughout its period of sakoku (seclusion), by the shōgun's government, the Bakufu. She was delivered on September 21, 1857, by Lt. Willem Huyssen van Kattendijke of the Dutch navy. The ship was used at the newly established Naval School of Nagasaki in order to build up knowledge of Western warship technology.