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Born in Kagoshima to a Satsuma samurai family, he rose to prominence despite humble origins as a lower retainer. Under Shimazu Nariakira and Hisamitsu he became deeply involved in Satsuma's political core, working to forge the Satcho Alliance and realize the restoration of imperial rule. After the Meiji Restoration he participated in the Iwakura Mission (1871-73), observing Western modernization firsthand, and drove policies of national enrichment and industrial development. His clash with Saigo Takamori and Itagaki Taisuke over the Korea question precipitated the Political Crisis of 1873, forcing Saigo's resignation. As Home Minister he wielded enormous power, pushing through the land tax reform, the abolition of samurai stipends, and other modernization measures in rapid succession. Though criticized as an autocrat for his forceful methods, his contribution to Japan's modernization was immeasurable. He was assassinated at Kioi slope on May 14, 1878, by discontented former samurai. He was forty-eight. He is counted alongside Saigo Takamori and Kido Takayoshi as one of the Three Great Meiji Reformers.

Cool, rational, and possessed of an iron will that did not shrink from any means necessary to achieve his goals. He prioritized the logic of the state over personal emotion and did not fear clashing even with his close ally Saigo.

Led the formulation and execution of wealth-and-power and industrial-development policies, building the foundations of the modern Japanese state. Though his authoritarian methods drew much criticism, he was the indispensable driving force behind Japan's rapid modernization.