As the largest ship in the IJN Ryūjō was frequently visited by the Emperor Meiji and was used to escort a diplomatic mission to Imperial China.

A Japanese naval physician, Takaki Kanehiro, had developed a theory that the disease was caused by a dietary deficiency and was able to persuade the government to repeat the voyage with a different ship using a more nutritious diet.

Ryūjō was converted into a stationary training ship when her propulsion machinery was removed in 1887–1888 and was assigned to the naval gunnery school in 1890.

[7][12][Note 4] Thomas Blake Glover, a British merchant with extensive commercial interests in Japan, ordered an armoured corvette from the Aberdeen, Scotland, shipyard of Alexander Hall for the price of £42,032.

[14] She departed for Japan on 11 August[1] and arrived at Nagasaki in January 1870 where Glover sold it to the Kumamoto Domain for the price of 270,000 gold Ryō on 12 April.

[15][3] Ryūjō was inspected by Emperor Meiji during a visit to Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on 21 November 1871 and he was hosted aboard the ship during a tour on 23 May 1872.

[14][3][16] The ship participated in exercises off the island of Sarushima in Tokyo Bay on 19 January 1873 and escorted Foreign Minister Soejima Taneomi on his mission to Imperial China later in the year to demand recompense for the murders of Japanese sailors by Taiwanese aborigines in 1871.

During the Saga Rebellion, the ship played a small role by ferrying the government's commander-in-chief and his staff to nearby Nagasaki in March 1874.

[14] On 5 March 1875 the Emperor visited Ryūjō while in Yokosuka Naval Arsenal to attend the launching of the unprotected corvette Seiki.

The ship made a second long-distance navigational training voyage from 19 December to 15 October 1883[10] that visited Wellington, New Zealand, Valparaíso, Chile, Callao, Peru, and Honolulu, Kingdom of Hawai'i.

[10][15] During the First Sino-Japanese War, she was used a floating battery at the entrance to Yokosuka Harbour with a crew of 137 men from 12 September 1894 to 17 February 1895 when she reverted to her earlier role.

On 31 July 1908 the government ordered that her bow ornamentation and name board should be sent to Kumamoto Castle for preservation before Ryūjō was sold for scrap later that year.