MOTODA began compiling with Masakaze TAKASAKI and Masakata SENGOKU and more or less finished in the summer of 1881, however, there was a debate whether to adopt cases from the West or not.
元田は高崎正風・仙石政固らとともに編纂作業を行い1881年夏に一応の完成を見たものの、西洋の事例を取り上げるかで議論が分かれた。