While by far the most advanced Japanese wartime tank to reach production, industrial and material shortages resulted in only a few chassis being manufactured and only two known to be completed.

[1] The Type 4 Chi-To was a thirty-ton medium tank of all-welded construction and had maximum armor thickness of 75 mm (3.0 in) on the frontal plates.

[1] Intended Type 4 Chi-To output was 25 tanks per month; with 20 to be made at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and 5 to be produced at Kobe Seiko-sho.

[1] Late war shortage-induced delays caused by the severing of supply lines with conquered territories and U.S. strategic bombing of the Japanese mainland resulted in a total of six chassis being built.

[1][2] At the end of World War II, two completed Type 4 Chi-To tanks were dumped into Lake Hamana in Shizuoka Prefecture to avoid capture by Allied occupation forces.

According to several sources, the Ka-To hull was based on the Type 4 Chi-To, which needed to be extended in length to accommodate the main gun.