Military man and statesman. Born to the family of a feudal retainer of the Kokura domain. After serving in the Boshin War, he joined the army in 1871, distinguished himself in the Seinan War in 1877 as a staff officer of the Governor-General for the Suppression, and in 1885 became a lieutenant general. After serving in the army reserve, he was ennobled as a baron in 1887 and became a member of the peerage, and in 1890 was elected to the House of Peers by imperial command. In 1910, he became Vice President of the Japanese Red Cross Society.