In 1912, the Japanese state railways received four class 4100 tank locomotives from Maffei in Germany. Two years later, Kawasaki had more locomotives made that were more or less copies. Differences lay in a larger grate but smaller firebox heating surface. After 30 locomotives were built, the boiler got an additional flue with an additional superheater element.
In Japan, the locomotives were only used until 1950. Five were taken to Korea in 1939, where they later remained in service as part of the North Korean Railways until 1976. Some locomotives also came to Taiwan, these were scrapped by 1980.