In 1846, he was sent by the Nabeshima clan, rulers of Saga, to study rangaku (western learning) in Kyoto under Hirose Genkyō, and subsequently in Osaka under Ogata Kōan.

He traveled on to the Netherlands, where he ordered the Japanese warship Nisshin, and stayed on to supervise its construction and to learn of western shipbuilding techniques, but the image of the Red Cross remained in his memory.

After the Meiji Restoration, Sano was called upon to assist in the formation of the Imperial Japanese Navy and received a posting at the Ministry of War in 1870.

With the start of the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877, Sano created the Hakuaisha ('Philanthropic Society'), a relief organization to provide medical assistance to wounded soldiers from both sides of the conflict.

Sano also created the Ryuchikai, the forerunner of the Japan Art Association in 1879, in an attempt to stem the outflow of Japanese important cultural properties to overseas collectors.