[1] He had seizures at a young age and was physically weak, but Tanigaki considered that his childhood spent playing in the wild helped him develop a strong physique naturally.

[5][6]: 0:14  Tanigaki joined a martial arts academy formed by Hong Kong-based Japanese choreographer Yasuaki Kurata to learn karate while studying in university in 1989.

[8] He moved to Hong Kong alone to pursue a career in filmmaking in 1993, starting off as a cast extra and volunteered in police identity parades.

[10] In 1994, Tanigaki was invited to become a stunt actor by action choreographer Stephen Tung,[1][4] which included a minor role as an unnamed fighter knocked out by Chen Zhen (portrayed by Jet Li) in the martial arts film Fist of Legend,[11] and joined the Hong Kong Stuntman Association in June.

[9] In 1997, he received an invitation from an action director to work as a stunt coordinator in the American sci-fi film The Matrix in Los Angeles.

[1] However, due to lead actor Keanu Reeves' injury and the subsequent rescheduling of filming, both the action director and Tanigaki had to withdraw from the project before Yuen Woo-ping substituted.

[1][16] Individually, Tanigaki took part in several V-Cinema and low-budget Japanese films, which he himself described as "forgettable" due to their lackluster or unknown nature.

[18] The following year, he made his directorial debut in Japan with the action film Legend of Seven Monks, featuring Sonny Chiba and Yasuaki Kurata in lead roles.

[27] Keishi Ōtomo, the film's director, was impressed by Tanigaki's stunt coordination work in Legend of the Wolf and handpicked him to join the project.

[34][2] In 2015, he participated in the Chinese action thriller film The Vanished Murderer,[35] and choreographed the music video for Japanese girl group AKB48's single "Bokutachi wa Tatakawanai".

[41][42] Both films garnered nominations for Best Action Choreography in the 55th Golden Horse Awards and Tanigaki emerged as the winner with Hidden Man.

[45] In 2020, Tanigaki co-directed the action comedy film Enter the Fat Dragon with Wong Jing, which starred Donnie Yen, alongside Niki Chow and Teresa Mo.

[49] Alex Rallo of Polygon acknowledged Tanigaki for bringing his "A-game to the Rurouni Kenshin saga" and delivering new cinematic kinetics that utilised camera movements to enhance the choreography.

[15] Mark Schilling of The Japan Times commended the film's battle sequences and referred to Tanigaki as the person who "brings panache and impact to these scenes that lift them above the Japanese action norm".

[56] Matthew Monagle of The Austin Chronicle praised Tanigaki's fight coordination as "top-tier violence", particularly highlighting a church brawl sequence and calling it the best seen in a movie that year.

[61] Keith Ho, writing for HK01, noted Tanigaki's effort in choreographing with considerations of the different sets within the Kowloon Walled City, describing it as "the best Hong Kong close combat film in recent years",[62] while Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com called the action "thrilling" and credited Tanigaki with elevating the action to a larger scale.