[1] Taki graduated with a degree in art history from Tokyo University.
[2] Taki began his professional career as a core figure at the Japanese photography magazine Provoke, which he co-founded and where he worked from 1968 to 1970.
[2] However, because of his "aloofness" and greater focus on writing, he was best known as a critical writer rather than a visual artist.
[4] The magazine was founded by Koji Taki and poet Takahiko Okada, and photographers Takuma Nakahira and Yutaka Takanashi, as an attempt to fill the gap between politics and art, and as a result of frustration at the post-war world.
[5] Taki's most revered books include Ikareta Ie (Lived-in Houses), published by Tabata Shoten in 1976; Tenno no Shozo (The Emperor's Portrait), published by Iwanami Shoten in 1988; and Senso-Ron (The Theory of War), published by Iwanami Shoten in 1999.