Murata Rifle

The Murata rifle was the first indigenously produced Japanese service rifle, adopted in 1880 as the Meiji Type 13 Murata single shot rifle, its designation drawn from the thirteenth year of the Meiji era. Designed by Major Murata Tsuneyoshi after he studied European firearms, particularly the French Gras rifle, the original Type 13 fired an 11 millimeter cartridge and roughly 80,000 were built. A later repeating variant, the Type 22 of 1889, used smokeless powder and an 8 millimeter cartridge, marking a significant advance for Japanese military firearms of the era.