When her father died in 1947, her mother became more rigid creating a rift between Saito and her family that would eventually lead her to live abroad.
Through this movement Saito began studying various artistic media including oil painting, sculpture, printmaking, and watercolor.
[2] Determined to live independently, Saito left for Hokkaidō in 1960 where she worked in construction for six months, but she soon realized her desire to continue making art.
She moved back to Tokyo in 1961 where she explored artmaking more, but found the rigid hierarchies of the Japanese artists associations and arts institutions difficult to deal with as a self-taught member of Sobi.
Through Ay-O, Saito met George Maciunas in 1964, and intrigued by the communal activities of Fluxus, she began working with the group.
During this time, Saito worked with George Brecht and Robert Filliou in France (1968–72); with Felipe Ehrenberg, David Mayor, and Martha Hellion at Beau Geste Press in England publishing artist's books (1973–75); and with Francesco Conz and Rosanna Chiessi in Italy, creating interactive installations and other works (1975–79).
Her move to Dūsseldorf and initial housing in the caretaker's workshop of a student hostel directed by Fluxus collector Erik Andersch allowed her to begin working full-time as an artist.
[8] Aside from solo exhibitions in Düsseldorf, Cologne, Fukui, New York, Kansas, Bremen, Kaunas and Schwerin in recent years, her work has been featured in Re-Imagining Asia at the House of World Cultures in Berlin in 2008 and in Fluxus retrospectives at Museum Ostwall in Dortmund, Germany in 2012–13; the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2010; and the Tate Modern, London in 2008.
These were often included in the Flux Boxes from 1964 onwards, sometimes in uncredited form, and were part of a Fluxus series of game variations of Chess.
He associated this craftsmanship with Japanese culture, and when he began working with Saito, he was so impressed with her craftmanship, in spite of her self-taught skills, that he asked her to contribute a series of disrupted chess sets to sell in his new Flux shop on Canal Street in Soho.
[14] Art historian Natasha Lushetich further expands on this notion, pointing out that once several vials have been opened, "their smells fuse and hang in the air, creating an undifferentiated continuum that makes it next to impossible for the players to identify the pieces, let alone decide on the position they ought to occupy on the board.
[16] Aside from Spice Chess, Saito has produced numerous other chess sets that subvert usual gameplay rules including the following: Galery La Fenêtre, Nice, 1972[3] Galleria Multipla, Milan, 1975 and 1976[3] Other Books & So, De Appel, Amsterdam, 1978[3] Ruhr Universität, Essen, Germany, 1980[3] Objetkte, Bücher, Schachspiele, Modern Art Galerie, Vienna, 1981[3] Bücherausstelling, Galerie M. + R. Fricke, Düsseldorf, Germany, 1984[3] Takako Saito – performance, books and book objects, Galerie Hundertmark, Cologne, Germany, 1986[3] Takako Saito: Eine Japanerin in Düsseldorf, Objekte, Stadtmuseum, Dusseldorf, 1988[3] Games, The Emily Harvey Gallery, NY, 1990[3] 0 + 0 + (-1) = my work, Fondazione Mudima, Milan, 1993[3] Takako's You and me shop, music shop, newspaper stand, FLUX scoops shop, Galeria Lara Vincy, Paris, 2003, 2009, 2010[3] Takako Saito – Viel Vergnügen, Kunsthalle Bremen, 2004[3] Game Fashion Show, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Villa Croce, Genoa, 2006[3] Bücher, Objekte, Schachspiele, Kleiner Raum Clasing & Galerie Etage, Münster, Germany, 2007[3] Les jeux de 1988–1994 + x, Galerie Lara Vincy, Paris, France, 2009[3] Les Jeux de 1988–1994 / Les Jeux de 2004-2009 + You and Me, Galerie Lara Vincy, Paris, France, 2010[3] Play and Connect, Galerie van Gelder / AP, Amsterdam, NL, 2015-16[20] You + Me, Kelter-Kabinett / Staatliches Museum, Schwerin, Germany, 2016[3] Takako Saito: der Himmel klingelt, Buchgalerie Mergemeier, Dusseldorf, 2016[3] Takako Saito: You + Me, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Siegen, 2017[3] Takako Saito, CAPC musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux, 2019[3] Takako Saito, boa-basedonart gallery, Dusseldorf, 2021-2022[3] Box Show, NY, 1965 FLUXshoe, Exeter, England, 1973 (touring exhibition) Fluxus, etc.
: The Gilbert and Lila Silverman Collection, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, 1984 Marcel Duchamp und die Avantgarde seit 1950, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, 1988 Ubi Fluxus ibi motus, 1990/1962, Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 1990 De Bonnard à Baselitz – Dix ans d'enrichissement du cabinet des estampes 1978–1988, Bibliothèque nationale, Paris, 1992 En el espiritu de Fluxus, Fundacion Antoni Tapies, Barcelona, 1994 Dinge in der Kunst des XX.
Jahrhunderts, Haus der Kunst, Munich, 2000 Fluxus und Freunde, Weserburg, Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, 2002 Una larga historia con muchos nudos Fluxus en Alemania: 1962 –1994, Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, 2004 Faites vos jeux!