[1] Born in Kyoto, Yamazaki grew up in Manchuria during World War II.

He studied philosophy with a concentration in aesthetics and art history at Kyoto University.

In 1972, alongside Minoru Betsuyaku, he co-founded the Te no Kai theatre company, where he wrote the plays Fune wa Hosen yo and Mokuzō Haritsuke.

In 1975, he won the Mainichi Shuppan Bunka Shō for Yamiagari no Amerika.

In 2006, he was named as a Person of Cultural Merit, and in 2011, he received the Prize of the Japanese Academy of Arts.