The second son of Kyoshi Takahama, he was born in Tokyo and learned Noh as a young children. As a student at Kaisei Junior High School, he found pleasure in listening to classical music on vinyl, especially French music. After quitting Keio University to study composition in France, he arrived in Paris in March 1927, and in 1928 he entered the harmony class of Paul Fauchet at the Conservatoire de Paris. Though he stayed in Japan from April to October in 1930 then from December 1932 to March 1934, he obtained premier accesit (the third prize) then deuxième prix (the second prize) at Fauchet’s class. Since October 1934, his study continued at the fugue class of Georges Caussade and the composition class of Henri Büsser, but he returned definitively to Japan in August 1936. During his stay in Paris, he went to concerts where he saw Ravel, Schönberg, Richard Strauss, Prokofiev, etc. He also got acquaintance with Japanese musicians such as Chieko Hara, Kazuko Yasukawa, Tōroku Takagi, Kishio Hirao, Koji Taku, some of whom, like Ikenouchi, became active in performing or teaching French music in Japan.
