To circumvent the terms of the 1930 London Naval Treaty, which limited its total destroyer tonnage the Imperial Japanese Navy designed the Chidori class torpedo boat, but planned to arm it with half the armament of a Fubuki class destroyer.

Sixteen Ōtori-class vessels were ordered in the 1934 2nd Naval Armaments Supplement Programme, of which eight were completed between 1936 and 1937.

Two Kampon geared turbines powered by two Kampon water-tube boilers produced a total of 19,000 shaft horsepower (14,000 kW), which gave the ships more power than the Chidori-class, and thus a slightly higher maximum speed of 30.0 knots (34.5 mph; 55.6 km/h)[3] The armament of the Ōtori-class was almost the same as for the rebuilt Chidori-class with a main battery of three single 12 cm/45 3rd Year Type naval guns which could elevate to 55 degrees for a limited anti-aircraft capability.

[3] The Ōtori-class were used extensively from the start of the Pacific War to escort invasion convoys to the Philippines, Dutch East Indies and the Solomon Islands.

Seven of the eight ships in the class were sunk by submarines or air attack in the Pacific or the South China Sea and only Kiji survived to the end of the war.