We don't hear much about a proper Japanese navy before 1855 because the Imperial Japanese Navy as a unified instituition was non-existent for circa 215 years (ca. 1635 - 1854) at that time, earlier (1300 - 1630s) Japan's navy was comissioned mostly to fight civil wars amongst different clans and to defend against piracy (a recurring issue in the Japanese coast at the time). Before that, Japan's navy has been recorded as being no match for the Mongol navy, being forced to fight the mongols on land only. Other earlier mentions are mostly about civil wars and smaller campaigns in Korea.

The Tokugawa shogunate adopted the sakoku policy in the 1630s in which foreign nations were banned from entering Japan and the Japanese were forbidden to contact foreigners (for trade too) or built ships that could reach the sea. Breaking these rules was punishable with death. This policy was an attempt by Japanese authorities to hault the increasing colonialist influence primarly Portugal and Spain were having in Japan at the time. Portuguese jesuits priests were converting hundreds large groups to Catholicism and this was perceived by the Shogunate as threat to its rule and stability.

There was still contact with foreign nations, however under the strict rules and limitations imposed by the shogunate. Trade was conducted mainly with China and, to a much more limited extent, with Korea.

The only European nation allowed contact with Japan during this time was the Netherlands which retained access to a special kind of transshipment port in their trade post in Nagasaki. The Japanese were able to keep up with the latest technological advancements duo to this direct contact with the Dutch and study of Western culture known in Japan as raganku. ​

There are sporadic recorded instances of small trade groups or individuals visiting Japan during this time, most trade expeditions however were met with with a strong reaction from the Japanese. A famous Portuguese expedition in 1640 resulted in the arrest and execution of the entire crew.

During this period, the construction of ships in Japan saw a sharp decline caused by ever diminishing demand for sea travel. Japan simply had no interrest in sending ships across the globe to trade or sending expeditions somewhere to claim lands.

The sakoku policy started coming to and end in the first half of the 19th century duo to multiple factors.

In 1808, in an attempt to ambush a Dutch trading ships expected to arrive later that day a Royal Navy warship entered the Bay at Nagasaki under a Dutch flag. The Dutch traders in Nagasaki got in their boats and rowed towards thems without suspecting anything. The British arrested them and demanded supplies in exchange for their release. The Japanese, lacking a Navy and having only very old (and mostly not even functioning) cannons in their defenses had no choice but to agree to the terms requested by the British. This event, known as the Nagasaki Harbour incident, summed with other instances in which Japan struggled to defend its seas properly, caused them to realize they were at a dangerous military dissadvantage. Another contributing factor was the Opium Wars and its victory by Western forces. Japan was now very aware that its sakoku policy of isolation from the West was unsustainable and dangerous.

Eventually, after numerous failed contact attempts, the American navy entered Japan in 1854, demonstraded their firing power and demanded trade negotiations. Pressured and wanting to avoid armed conflict against a much better equiped enemy, Japan agreed to open negotiatoins and eventually the Convention of Kanagawa, signed in 1854, led to the opening of Japan.

Almost immediately after resuming relations with the West, Japan started to adopt Western naval technologies and built the Imperial Japanese Navy.

TL;DR: There are few mentions of a Japanese navy prior to 1855 because before that Japan didn't have a unified Navy. From the 1630s util 1854 Japan was under a state policy of isolation from other nations, refraining from exploring the seas, trading and claiming land like Western natoins were doing and before that Japanese warships belonged to separte clans and were mostly used to fight civil wars and defend agains piracy.

SOURCES

Theodore, D. B. W., & Dykstra, Y. (2006). Sources of Japanese tradition. Columbia Univ. Press.

Sansom, G. B. (1996). A history of Japan. Stanford University Press.

Miyoshi, M. (2005). As we saw them - the first japanese embassy to the united states. Paul Dry Books, Inc.

P.S: As I was starting to review my answer some family duties called, sorry for any grammar mistakes I will return later to fix it.