Son of a samurai of the Kumamoto clan. He graduated from the Law College of the Imperial University in 1887. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the same year. After serving as the director-general of International Trade Bureau and the director-general of the Political Affairs Bureau, he was appointed the envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary in Qing in 1901, the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary in Austria in 1907 and the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary in 1909 in the United States. He signed the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between the United States and Japan in 1911 and became the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the second Saionji Cabinet the same year. He was appointed the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary in Russia in 1916 and the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Hara Cabinet in 1918. He was awarded the title of hakushaku(count) in 1920. He also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Takahashi Cabinet and in the Tomosaburo Kato Cabinet. He was appointed privy councillor in 1925. He was a commissioner plenipotentiary in the Pact of Paris in 1928. He became president of the South Manchuria Railways Company in 1931. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Saito Cabinet in 1932. He earned himself the nickname of the Uchida Shodo Gaiko on occasion of his parliamentary replies over the issue of the endorsement of Manchukuo.