Ships
- IJN Nagato Captain from 20 December 1944
Kiyomi Shibuya was born in Kochi Prefecture on 27 September 1895. He entered the Imperial Japanese Navy as a midshipman on 24 November 1917 and made his name as a navigator. By November 1929 he was a lieutenant commander, with service in the light cruiser Sendai already behind him. In December 1931 he became navigator of the light cruiser Yura, then held the same post in the heavy cruiser Aoba from November 1932 and in the cruiser Iwate from September 1933.
In November 1934 he joined the Navigation School as an instructor. Promoted to commander on 15 November 1935, he reported the next day as navigator of the battleship Mutsu. He went back to the Navigation School in December 1937 and also taught at the Naval War College. In November 1939 he became executive officer of the heavy cruiser Atago. On 15 October 1940 he took command of the fleet oiler Sata, and on 15 November 1940 he was promoted to captain.
His first combatant command came on 20 September 1941, when he was appointed captain of the light cruiser Kuma. He was still in her when the Pacific War began. In November 1942 he was ordered ashore to the Yokosuka Naval District. From January 1943 he headed a section in the Hydrographic Department, and on 10 January 1944 he returned to the Navigation School as chief instructor.
On 21 February 1944 Shibuya was given the carrier Junyo. That June, in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Junyo went out with the Japanese carrier force and came back damaged. He stayed in command through the rest of the year, while the fleet was running short of trained aircrews, fuel, and undamaged flight decks.
On 20 December 1944 he relieved Yuji Kobe as captain of Nagato. The battleship had reached Yokosuka from the Philippines only weeks earlier. With fuel and repair capacity exhausted, the navy was turning her into a floating anti-aircraft battery for the port: the funnel and mainmast were taken down to clear the gun arcs, more anti-aircraft guns were added, and the forward secondary battery was removed. Battleship Division 3 was dissolved on 1 January 1945, and Nagato passed briefly to Battleship Division 1. That formation was dissolved on 10 February, and the ship was assigned to the Yokosuka Naval District as a coastal defense ship, moored at a pier with only partial power to her guns. Earlier in the war the same hull had been the Combined Fleet flagship of Isoroku Yamamoto. Under Shibuya she remained at Yokosuka.
Shibuya left Nagato on 28 April 1945, and Miki Otsuka succeeded him. On 1 May he was promoted to rear admiral. On 20 May he took command of the 3rd Special Attack Squadron, a collection of Shinyo explosive motorboats and a few midget submarines gathered around Sasebo for a last defense of the home islands. He was still in that post when the war ended. He left active service on 5 November 1945. In November 1947 the postwar purge barred him from public office. He died on 20 February 1985.