Born on August 24, 1879 (Meiji 12) in Shiba, Tokyo, as the eldest son of the Home Ministry official Taki Yoshihiro. Following his father's transfers, he moved through Kanagawa, Toyama, and Oita, and met the piano in his Toyama elementary-school years. In 1894 he entered the preparatory course of the Tokyo Music School (today Tokyo University of the Arts), majoring in piano and composition. He studied under Koda Nobu and Rudolf Dittrich. Graduating from the regular course in 1898 and advancing to the graduate course, the year 1900 was his most creative, in which he produced one song after another still loved today — 'The Moon over the Ruined Castle' (poem by Doi Bansui), 'Eight Leagues of Hakone,' 'Flowers,' 'New Year,' 'Hato-poppo,' and others. In particular, 'The Moon over the Ruined Castle' is said to have been composed by Taki by overlaying the image of the ruined Oka Castle in Oita on Doi's poem written with Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle and Sendai's Aoba Castle in mind. In April 1901 he set out as the third Japanese musician to study in Europe, entering the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany, studying piano under Robert Teichmüller and composition under Salomon Jadassohn. But five months into his studies, in October 1901, he contracted tuberculosis and was hospitalized. In October 1902 he was forced to return home, and lived a life of convalescence in his native Oita. On June 29, 1903, he died in Inari-cho, Oita City, aged 23.

Gentle and introspective, he combined deep sensibility with musical genius. With his father's seriousness and his mother's delicacy, he showed talent in Chinese poetry, painting, and piano from childhood. A 'genius type' composer who left an astonishing number of works in a short time. A pioneer who sought to fuse Japanese tradition with Western music and, as a Japanese, established authentic classical composition.

In Taki's 23-year life 34 works are said to remain certainly extant, many of which have become eternal classics still loved by Japanese today. 'The Moon over the Ruined Castle' was arranged by Yamada Kosaku and is sung around the world. At Taketa City, Oita, the Oka Castle ruins and the 'Taki Rentaro Memorial Hall' (his former residence) are open to the public as a city museum. Every year on June 29, the anniversary of his death, memorial events are held. As the first composer to lay the foundation of modern Japanese music, he remains an enduring presence in the history of Japanese music.