[1] She was built by Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation in Kobe, and was launched on 27 January 1930 alongside her sister ship Kaiwo Maru.

[2] At the beginning of World War II, her sailing rig was removed and she served as a training and postwar transport motorship.

[2] In 1952, her rig was reinstalled and she resumed her training voyages until she was replaced in September 1984 by her successor, also named Nippon Maru.

[2] She is rigged as a four-masted barque, with 32 sails covering 2,397 square metres (25,800 sq ft), and two 600-horsepower diesel engines for auxiliary functions.

The Nippon Maru appears and plays a key role most notably in the climax ending of Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers (2008) film, where in an alternate timeline, the 150-year-old ship monument had been turned into humanity's very first faster than light capable interstellar exploratory spaceship where everyone of the main cast makes their way to visit M78 Nebula, which so happens to be the homeworld of humanity's guardian protectors, the Ultra civilization.