The E2N was developed in the 1920s for the Imperial Japanese Navy as a short range reconnaissance floatplane suitable for catapult launch from cruisers and battleships.

[1] It was a wooden, twin-float sesquiplane, carrying a crew of two in open cockpits with folding wings and powered by a Mitsubishi "Hi" liquid-cooled engine.

This layout gave better downwards view than the Hansa-Brandenburg inspired monoplanes proposed by Aichi and Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal, and the design was selected to become Japan's first locally designed shipboard reconnaissance seaplane in 1927.

Eighty examples were produced between 1927-29 by Nakajima and Kawanishi; of these, two were bought for civil fishery patrol duties.

The Navy machines were withdrawn from front-line units in the early 1930s, with the E2N1 being replaced by the Nakajima E4N, and either being reassigned to training duties or sold to civil buyers.