[1] His elder brother Kyohei Yamagata is also a former footballer.
After graduating from high school, he joined J2 League club Albirex Niigata in 2002.
Although Yamagata could not play many matches until 2006, he became a regular as right side back in 2007 and Avispa was promoted to J1 League end of 2010 season.
However Tochigi finished at the bottom place in 2015 season and was relegated to J3 League.
[3] [4] This biographical article related to a Japanese association football defender born in the 1980s is a stub.