Samurai of the Hagi clan. Statesman. Born in Yamaguchi. From 1859, he took part in the clan's administration. Also, as a supporter of the doctrine of restoring the emperor and expelling the barbarians, he promoted the anti-Shogunate movement. He remained in the center of clan politics, and when the second Choshu Expedition took place in 1866, representing the clan he concluded a cease-fire agreement with Kaishu Katsu on the Shogunate side. In the following year, a pact was concluded between the Satsuma and Choshu clans concerning the dispatch of troops. Thus, he was busily engaged in the anti-Shogunate movement. In the new government, he successively served as choshi (government officer), san'yo (senior councillor), Minbu Taifu(senior vice minister of the Popular Affairs Ministry), sangi (councillor), etc., and promoted hanseki hokan (the return of the lands and people to the Emperor). He represented the Hagi clan in the new government, but he was assassinated in 1871.