Banjō (磐城, Cliff Castle) was a steam gunboat, serving in the early Imperial Japanese Navy.

Banjō was a three-masted wooden-hulled gunboat with a double-expansion reciprocating steam engine with four rectangular boilers driving one screw.

[1] Her design was based on the basic outlines of the foreign-designed Amagi, but Banjō built in Japan at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal and was the fourth vessel to be completed at that shipyard.

Banjō saw combat service in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, patrolling between Korea, Dairen and Weihaiwei in a reserve capacity in the IJN 2nd Fleet.

On 21 March 1898, Banjō was re-designated as a second-class gunboat, and was used for coastal survey and patrol duties as well as a fisheries protection vessel.