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"There is virtually no list, but bombs have made two direct hits near the aft tower."

Yoshida Mitsuru, "Requiem for Battleship Yamato"

In this, the first of a series of 4 remarkable consecutive photographs, the first of those bombs impacts near the funnel on the port side of Yamato, destroying several 5" gun batteries.

This high resolution version of one of the most famous Yamato battle photos shows that the crane tower at rear - though not the crane arm itself, which operated independently - was removed for the final mission.

This makes sense because the crane tower limited the firing range of the rear 18.1" guns. Since the crane arm was independent of the tower, Yamato still carried several float planes for submarine recon on until she passed out of the inland sea, when they were sent home.

Looking at this photo and the following 3 photos, we can conclusively say that the crane tower was indeed removed prior to Operation Ten-ichi-go.