The ship was launched in 1929 by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. at Nagasaki, on the southern island of Kyūshū, Japan, entering service in 1930.

However, under increasing pressure from the Japanese government to use only equipment and technologies available domestically, the design was changed to use standard Mitsubishi-Sulzer marine diesel engines, which reduced cruising speed to 15 knots.

En route, she made her usual scheduled ports of call: Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, Moji, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Penang, and Colombo.

At 9 AM on November 19, she transited the Dover Straits, turning north to the mouth of the River Thames and her final destination of London.

She took aboard a pilot off the South Downs, and underwent contraband inspection while Royal Navy minesweepers checked her route into London for mines.

After receiving clearance to proceed, at 35 minutes after midnight on the morning of November 21, an explosion occurred between her second and third holds, after she struck a German magnetic mine at 51°50′N 01°30′E / 51.833°N 1.500°E / 51.833; 1.500 off Harwich on the Essex coast.