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The Kasuga-class cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy was based on the Garibaldi-class armored cruiser developed by the Italian firm of Ansaldo.

Designed by Edoardo Masdea, the cruiser was a hybrid between a cruiser and a battleship. At 20 knots maximum speed, the design was slightly slower than contemporary cruisers but was very heavily armed and also very heavily armored, in a package with very low displacement and moderate dimensions. The design was so popular that between 1894 and 1902 ten cruisers were purchased by four different countries: The first five by the Italian Navy, four by the Argentine Navy and one by the Spanish Navy.

The Italian Navy ordered the final two vessels of this class in 1902 as the Mitra and Roca. Sold to the Argentine Navy before completion, they were renamed as the Rivadavia and the Mariano Moreno. The Argentines in turn sold them to the Imperial Japanese Navy before final completion in 1904, and they were renamed as the Kasuga and the Nisshin.

Kasuga was built by Ansaldo at Genoa. She was to be named Mitra but was renamed as Rivadavia by Argentina. Launched on 22nd October 1902 and completed on the 7th January 1904. She served in the Russo-Japanese War and took part in the Battle of the Yellow Sea and again at the Battle of Tsushima. After 1922, she was partially disarmed as part of the Washington Naval Treaty and used as a training ship until finally scrapped in 1948.

Nisshin was also built by Ansaldo at Genoa. She was to be named Roco but was renamed as Mariano by Argentina. She was launched on 9th February 1903 and completed on the 7th January 1904. She served in the Russo-Japanese War and was severely damaged during the Battle of the Yellow Sea and again at the Battle of Tsushima. After 1922, as part of the Washington Naval Treaty she was partially disarmed and used as a training ship. Nisshin was finally expended as a target and sunk in 1936.

• Displacement: 7628 tons (Nisshin 7698 tons)
• Length: 108.8 meters at waterline, 111.73 meters overall
• Width 18.9 meters
• Draught 7.32 meters
• Engine: 2-shaft Reciprocating Vertical Triple Expansion (VTE) Engine, 8 boilers, 13,500 shp
• Speed: 20 knots
• Armour: belt: 70-150mm, deck: 25-38mm, barbette: 100-150mm, casemate: 150mm, conning tower: 150mm
• Armament:: 1-25cm gun (Kasuga only), 4-20cm gun (Kasuga 2), 14-15.2cm gun (1x14),

10-8cm gun (1x10), 6-47mm gun, 2-Maxim machine-guns, 4-45cm torpedo tubes

• Complement 600

The class was unusual in that they did not have a uniform main armament. Some had single 10-inch guns in turrets fore and aft; others (including the Kasuga) had a mixed armament of a single 10-inch gun in one turret and another turret with twin 8-Inch guns. A third variation (including the Nisshin) was a uniform armament of four 8-inch guns, twin gun turrets fore and aft.

The success of the Japanese Navy in using armored cruisers in the line of battle during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 drew considerable attention from navies and ship designers worldwide. The armored cruiser design soon evolved into the dreadnought armored cruiser and finally into the battlecruiser, which would be the most glamorous type of the world's warships until discredited at the Battle of Jutland, eleven years after Tsushima.

• Conway's All the World’s Fighting Ships 1860-1905
• Delorme, Pierre, Les Grandes Batailles de l'Histoire, Port-Arthur 1904, Socomer Editions (French)
• Dull, Paul S. (1978) A Battle History of The Imperial Japanese Navy ISBN 0-85059-295-X
• Gardiner, Robert (editor) (2001) Steam, Steel and Shellfire, The Steam Warship 1815–1905, ISBN 0-7858-1413-2
• Kofman, V.L. Armored Cruiser Type Garibaldi, Morskaya Kollektsia 3-1995