Hyūga Province
Born in Hyūga Province (present-day Miyazaki Prefecture) as the son of a "samurai" retainer to the Satsuma domain, Takaki studied Chinese medicine as a youth and served as a medic in the Boshin War. He later studied western medical science under British doctor William Willis (in Japan 1861–1881). Takaki entered the Imperial Japanese Navy as a medical officer in 1872. He was sent to Great Britain for medical studies in 1875, and interned at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School now part of King's College London in London. He returned to Japan in 1880.