Eiji Yoshikawa
Takahashi was born in Naniwa-ku, Osaka, and was a graduate of Kyoto University. While still a student, he contributed to the "Gendai Bungaku" literary magazine. He was encouraged to study the Chinese language and Chinese history by fellow writer Eiji Yoshikawa. He became a professor at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto in 1959. During the widespread violent student protest movements in the 1960s against the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan, Takahashi was an outspoken supporter of the radical student movement. He moved to Meiji University briefly in 1966 before returning to Kyoto University in 1967.