Kiri (桐, "Paulownia") was one of 18 Matsu-class escort destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II.

Completed in mid-1944, the ship played a minor role in the Battle off Cape Engaño in October and began escorting convoys the following month.

Kiri returned to Japan in January 1945 for repairs and escorted a convoy to Japanese Formosa later that month.

Designed for ease of production, the Matsu class was smaller, slower and more lightly armed than previous destroyers as the IJN intended them for second-line duties like escorting convoys, releasing the larger ships for missions with the fleet.

The ship was assigned to Destroyer Division 43, Escort Squadron 31 of the Combined Fleet on 30 September and participated in the Battle off Cape Engaño on 25 October as part of Vice-Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa's Northern Force.

Kiri was part of the escort force for the hybrid aircraft carrier/battleships Hyūga and Ise from Kure to Manila, the Philippines in early November, but she was diverted to the Spratly Islands instead.

The ship was moderately damaged by strafing American aircraft on 12 December and she rescued 214 survivors from the destroyer Yūzuki.

She escorted Convoy MOTA-33 from Moji to Keelung, Formosa, beginning on 22 January and later ended up in Shanghai, China.

The ship was turned over to Allied forces at Kure at the time of the surrender of Japan on 2 September and was stricken from the navy list on 5 October.