He won the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actor in 1984 for The Funeral and Farewell to the Ark.

[2] Yamazaki graduated from Haiyuza Theatre Company and joined Bungakuza in 1959.

[3] He made his film debut in Kihachi Okamoto's Daigaku no sanzôkutachi in 1960.

He worked with Kurosawa twice more: in the director's next film, 1965's Red Beard, then fifteen years later, in Kagemusha.

[3] He also starred in number of Juzo Itami's films, including his role as a trucker who resembles John Wayne in Tampopo (1985).