This is an excellent example of a World War II Japanese Type I Hamada Semi-Automatic pistol. These were originally designed by Bunji Hamada and are actually based on the original Browning Model 1910 pistol design only using a lager capacity magazine. The Hamada family was an early manufacturer of rifles and shotguns with their gun shop founded in Tokyo in 1895. These were manufactured circa 1941-44 with an estimated 5,000 made in total. However, they are somewhat rare in that all of the pistols were issued to units being sent to China during the early part of WWII. The few surviving examples were captured in the Pacific Theater from officers or units that were transferred there before the end of the war. This pistol is pictured in "Military Pistols of Japan" by Honeycutt on page 125. This example is a mid-production, third variation model with serial number located on the side of he slide and the rear of the frame. The left side has the two line Kanji markings with NO factory inspection mark in the small circular indentation of the slide. It has a Showa date of "18" (1943) on the right side of the frame. It has the standard fixed sights and is fitted with a pair of checkered grips and an original type I blue magazine with the caliber markings and proofmark stamped on the underside of the base plate. It also comes with a variant brown leather flap holster that has a single magazine pouch on the underside of the flap. It has a sewn on star on the front with two "D" ring loops on the back and with a belt loop. Currently, it is fitted with a matching leather shoulder strap.