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Born into the lower Kyoto aristocracy, he originally bore the surname Nakahara. Valued for his learning and administrative skill, he was recruited by Minamoto no Yoritomo and became the foremost civil official of the Kamakura shogunate, serving as head of the Kumonjo and later of the Mandokoro (administrative board). In 1185 he is said to have advised Yoritomo to install shugo (military governors) and jito (estate stewards) throughout the realm, laying the institutional foundation by which warrior government extended its control nationwide. After Yoritomo's death he remained at the center of power, serving as a member of the council of thirteen and as a close ally of Hojo Yoshitoki. During the Jokyu War of 1221, the Azuma Kagami records that he strongly urged a decisive march on Kyoto, helping secure the shogunate's victory. He took the surname Oe in his later years and died in 1225 at the age of 78. His descendants include the Sengoku daimyo Mori clan and the Sagae Oe of Dewa.

A calm and methodical administrator who judged matters by precedent and institution rather than emotion. Among vassals who rose by force of arms, he was a rare figure who upheld the very framework of the shogunate through the power of the brush and of governance, yet he also showed the boldness to spur on hesitant commanders during the Jokyu War.

He is highly regarded as the de facto architect of the Kamakura shogunate's governing structure. The shugo-jito system became the backbone of warrior government for centuries. His descendants, the Mori clan, grew into a major Sengoku power in western Japan and continued as the early-modern Choshu domain. Hiromoto pioneered the standing of the civil official within warrior government.