Diplomat. The eldest son of MOTONO Morimichi, a Dutch studies scholar of the Saga domain. In 1884, he began studying at the University of Lyon in France. He later returned to Japan, and became an official interpreter of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1890. After serving as Minister to Belgium and Minister to France, he became Minister to Russia, contributing to diplomacy before and after the Russo-Japanese War and to the conclusion of the Russo-Japanese Agreement. He became the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Terauchi Cabinet in 1916. At the time of the Russian Revolution, he advocated for the dispatch of troops to Siberia, but later died due to aggravation of his chronic disease.