Yamazaki joined Bungakuza in 1959. He made his film debut in Kihachi Okamoto`s movie in 1960. In 1960, he appeared in Akira Kurosawa's High and Low (1963 film). He worked with Kurosawa twice more: in the director's next film, 1965's Red Beard, then fifteen years later, in Kagemusha.