Back in 1934 the Imperial Japanese Navy issued a specification for an advanced fighter with a maximum speed of 350km/h (220mph) at 3000m (9840ft) high and had to be able to climb to 5000m (16400ft) in 6 and half minutes. This specification was called 9-shi and both Nakajima and Mitsubishi submitted designs.
Mitsubishi assigned the task of designing their new fighter to a team lead by Jiro Horikoshi (who designed the unsuccessful Mitsubishi 1MF10 and would also design the successful A6M Zero). The resulting design was called the Mitsubishi Ka-14 which served as the prototype for the A5M.
As the A5M won the contract, an initial production order for 75 aircraft was placed under the designation of Mitsubishi A5M1. It entered service with the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in 1937 and soon was involved in the aerial battles of the Second Sino-Japanese War including the ones versus the Chinese Boeing P-26C, in the world first aerial dogfight between metallic monoplanes.
The A5M1 was the first production model which was produced from 1936 (when the prototype flew for the first time) until June 1937. Seventy-five exemplars were manufactured all of them by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagoya, Japan. It was designed to operate from carriers and was powered by a single Nakajima Kotobuki 2 KAI 1 nine-cylinder air-cooled single-row radial which delivered a power of 572hp for taking off and 621hp at 1500m (4920ft) high. That engine drove a two-bladed metallic propeller.
It was armed with two fixed synchronized forward-firing 7,7mm (0,303in) Type 89 machine guns placed in the nose with 500 rounds.
The A5M1 was quickly replaced by the improved version A5M2 and, by 1938, there wasn't any active A5M1 serving with the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and it received the Allied reporting name of "Claude".
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_A5M
2. https://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/28828
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
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