Japanese Tank Designations
Chi came from Chusen-Sha ("medium tank"). Ha and Ni, in Japanese army nomenclature, refer to model number 3 and 4, respectively. The Type was numbered 97 as an abbreviation of the imperial year 2597, translating to the year 1937 in standard Gregorian calendar. Hence, the "Type 97 Chi-Ha" could be understood as the "1937's medium tank model 3".
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