Rifles

Handguns

Bayonets

Portable Weapons

Field's Equipment

Training Weapons

Communication Tools

Optical Weapon

Japanese Military Small Arms [Gunyou-Jyu] and Equipment

Development
In 1868 began the Meiji Restoration and Japan was no longer a Samurai country.
One of the first policies pursued by the Meiji government was to encourage Japanese development of their own weapons rather than to purchase weapons from foreign countries. Seeking Fukoku(a wealthy country) by Kyohei ( a strong army) became a national policy. After 13 years the Meiji government succeeded in transcending the age of matchlock guns and the first modern infantry rifle, the Murata Model 13 was adopted. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 Japan's weapons development exceeded the world's average.

The history of Japanese weapons development from 1868 until 1945 can be described in four stages: I. Until the conclusion of the Russo -Japanese War (1905) Japan tried to catch up with the Western countries, eagerly adopting any kind of new technologies.
II. Japan's small involvement in WW I made Japan establish its own system of weapon development, and some Japanese -made weapons were exported to other countries. Exports continued until the Sino-Japanese War with China began in 1937.
III. During the Sino-Japanese War the demand for various kinds of weapons
required more powerful and easier processes of production, and the development of these processes stimulated the creation and growth of many commercial companies which produced weapons and war materials.
IV. During WWII. Japan soon realized the great weapons demands of modern warfare and recognized that military industries needed to become more widely a national project, and she proceeded to make them so, but the lack of materials became more serious and limited production greatly.

As well, the year of The Great Earthquake, 1923, was a very important turning point in the history of Japan's weapons development. Almost all of the weapon manufacturing industry was concentrated in the metropolitan area of Tokyo which was destroyed, so after that disaster the development and production of weapons was relocated to other areas such as Kokura,Nagoya and other Japanese territory.

The Chart of Japanese Rifle Production and the Map
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