[1] He studied composition with Tomojirō Ikenouchi,[citation needed] Kishio Hirao [fr; ja], and John Cage.

In 1963, Ichiyanagi co-founded an avant-garde music collective called New Direction along with fellow composers Takehisa Kosugi, Yūji Takahashi, and Kenji Kobayashi, and others.

[1] The group disbanded in the late 1960s when most of its members relocated to New York, while Ichiyanagi remained in Japan.

[1] Ichiyanagi's later works shifted away from experimental means toward more conventional forms, including symphonies, operas and concertos.

After Ichiyanagi's marriage to Yoko Ono ended in 1962, he was married a second time in 1963 to Sumiko, who died in 1993.