This is a rare example of a WWII Japanese Type 2 "Hamada" semi-automatic pistol. This model was a continuation of the earlier Type 1 Hamada pistol that was developed in 1940. The Type 1 pistols were produced from 1941-1944 with approximately 4,500 actually produced. These Type 2 pistols were actually only produced from late 1944 until the fall of Japan in late 1945. Both pistols were designed and developed as a low cost substitute for the Type 94 Pistol. In a unique partnering arrangement, the Type 2 pistols were manufactured by the Notobe factory using tooling provided by Nagoya Arsenal and then shipped "in the white" to Nagoya's Toriimatsu factory where they would be inspected, blued, and issued to the various Japanese military units. They are a simple blowback design with the recoil spring around the outside of the barrel and housed inside the upper slide. It has a very comfortable grip angle and was fitted with mahogany grips. The original production contract was intended for 500 guns; however, only 10 guns of the original 500 production pistols actually exist today with the highest know serial number being this exact pistol, serial number "50". All of them are "in the white" with the exception of pistol #2, which was later blued in the U.S. It is speculated that maybe only the first 50 were actually completed and assembled and then were saved as souvenirs by various GIs and the remaining original unfinished pieces destroyed after the war. It has the standard Kanji markings on the left hand side of the slide, and this example has the serial number "50" stamped on the right side instead of the left side of the frame. The slide is fitted with a standard blade front sight and raised fixed rear sight. It is fitted with an original set of unnumbered mahogany checkered grips. It comes complete with an original magazine numbered "44" on the spine. C.F. Author of Military Pistols of Japan, Fred Honeycutt Jr. identifies the highest know serial number of a Hamada, pg 124, Hanada type II as 50, this pistol.