He is also known for directing other titles such as The Face of Another (1966), Natsu no Heitai (Summer Soldiers, 1972), and Pitfall (1962), which was Teshigahara's directorial debut.

[1] Teshigahara is the first person of Asian descent to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, accomplishing this in 1964 for his work on Woman in the Dunes.

He graduated in 1950 from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and began working in documentary film.

He directed his first feature film, Pitfall (1962), in collaboration with author Kōbō Abe and musician Toru Takemitsu.

In 1980, after the death of his father, Teshigahara became the third generation Iemoto of Sogetsu School, using bamboo at his large-scale solo exhibitions at several well known museums, including the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul, Korea (1989), Palazzo Reale in Milan, Italy (1995), and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. (1996), among other venues.