He worked for the Meiji Government as a sangi (councillor), an officer in the Ministry of Justice, and an aide in the Imperial Household Department, and in 1871 travelled to the West as a member of the Iwakura Mission.
明治政府では参議・司法大輔・侍補を務め、明治4年（1871年）からは岩倉使節団の一員として欧米各国に渡る。