Diplomat. Born in Yamaguchi, a physician's son. He studied at the caln school Meirinkan in Hagi. After medical training in Nagasaki, he was sent by the clan to study in Germany in 1868. He entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1873. After serving as first secretary at the Ministry, he became minister to Germany in the next year. Subsequently, he held various offices including minister to Austria and Holland. In 1886, he was appointed Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs in the first Ito cabinet, and later, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the first Yamagata cabinet and the first Matsukata cabinet. In 1894, as minister to Britain, he focused on revision of the Anglo-Japanese Commerce and Navigation Treaty in collaboration with the then Minister of Foreign Affairs Munemitsu Mutsu, and succeeded in achieving the revision. As foreign minister in the second Yamagata cabinet, he dealt with the Boxer Rebellion. Later, he assumed privy councillor and ambassador to the United States.