Manufactured at the Tokyo Artillery Arsenal in Koishikawa, Tokyo, the Baby Nambu was the "unofficial" officer's pistol of the Imperial Japanese Army; protocol of the time was for officers to buy their own kit, with 32 caliber American and European automatics being popular. The Baby Nambu provided a homegrown alternative. Fixed sights, with the four intertwined cannon balls of the Tokyo Arsenal on top of the chamber, serrated cocking piece, and checkered grips. The firing pin is mixed numbered, but the other components, including the grip panels and the "." marked nickel finished magazine are numbered to match the frame.