The ships had a beam of 10 metres and at full load a draft of . Despite the emphasis on weight-saving during construction, the ships were significantly overweight as completed and displaced at standard load, and at full load, nearly more than planned. The hull of the "Hatsuharu"-class vessels retained the general configuration of the "Fubuki"-class destroyers with a long forecastle and a pronounced flare of the forecastle to improve sea-keeping at high speeds by adding buoyancy and reducing the spray and water coming over the deck. A large bridge structure was located at the aft end of the forecastle deck topped by four fire control stations of various types. Lowest, just above the compass bridge, was the torpedo director ("Hassha shikisho"), with the gunnery fire direction station ("Shageki shikisho") next above. The fire director tower ("Hōiban shagekito") was third from the bottom and behind it was the rangefinder. Each of these was protected by plates of "Dücol steel" against strafing and shell splinters. For the first time in a Japanese destroyer, a superfiring turret was fitted forward of the bridge. It was only a single gun Model A turret, to save weight high in the ship, and was mounted on a deckhouse to elevate it above the twin gun Model B Mod 2 (B-gata kai-2) turret mounted on the forecastle deck. The second twin gun turret was mounted at the rear of the ship on the main deck. These turrets were slightly heavier than the earlier "Model A" and "Model B" turrets fitted on the "Fubuki"-class. All turrets were fitted with the Type 3 gun. The uptakes of the two forward boiler rooms were trunked together aft of the break in the forecastle into the fore funnel while the rear boiler room exhausted into the smaller rear funnel. Both funnels were inclined to the rear to reduce the amount of smoke that might reach the bridge. A tripod mast was fitted between the bridge and the fore funnel. Between the two funnels was the forward triple torpedo tube mount fitted on a low platform. Behind it "was a torpedo locker with its mechanical quick reload system ("Kiryoku sōtenshiki jihatsu sōten sochi") for the three reserve torpedoes inside." To preserve lateral stability the aft funnel was offset to starboard while the torpedo mount was offset to port. The reload locker was also offset slightly to port and angled inboard to facilitate reloading.