Chō Motonori served as a bushi during the Azuchi-Momoyama and early Edo periods.  Motonori was a retainer of the Mōri clan and served in the Chōshū domain in the Edo period.

In 1585, Motonori was born as the second son of Chō Motoyoshi.  Motoyoshi, was naturalized citizen of Japan originating from the Ming dynasty in China served as a representative of Mōri Terumoto in the central administration of the Mōri family.

In 1600, as an outcome of their defeat in the Battle of Sekigahara, the Mōri were subjected to a reduction of their territory to Suō and Nagato provinces.  On 8/27 of Keichō 6 (1601), Motonori’s father, Motoyoshi, was forced to commit seppuku in the Ōshima District of Suō based on an alleged affair with the wet nurse of Mōri Hidenari.  The individual with whom Motoyoshi was alleged to have engaged in a relationship strongly denied the allegations, and, after his death, the Chō family was reconstituted during the period that Terumoto remained alive with Motonari’s older brother, Chō Motosada, as the successor to Motoyoshi.  Therefore, it is said that there was in fact no illicit relationship, and the allegations were only a pretext to eliminate Motoyoshi.

On 8/13 of Kanei 17 (1640), Motonori died at the age of fifty-six.